PHOENIX – A Casa Grande man, Rene Ortiz, was sentenced on Oct. 20, 2026, to 38 months in prison for threatening President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to the Department of Justice, the 56-year-old Ortiz was convicted by a federal jury on June 8, 2026, of two felony violations of Making Threats Against Successors to the Presidency and one felony violation of Making Threats Against Former Presidents.
On Nov. 5, 2024—Election Day—Ortiz delivered to the federal courthouse in Phoenix a written threat to “execute the newly elected [President of the United States] by firing an M-16A2 service rifle with a magazine of 6 rounds,” directed at both candidates, former Vice President Kamala Harris and President Donald Trump.
After the election, on Nov. 25, 2024, Ortiz delivered a second threat to shoot “the incoming fraudulent elected [President of the United States] … at the inauguration on January 20th, 2025,” to the federal courthouse in Tucson. When interviewed by the U.S. Secret Service about the threats, Ortiz repeated his intent to make the threats; he was subsequently arrested on Jan. 17, 2025, ahead of the Presidential Inauguration.
Be the first to comment