A man who previously resided in Maryland has been sentenced to more than a year in prison for making thousands of threatening and harassing phone calls to numerous congressional offices nationwide. Ade Salim Lilly’s campaign of telephone harassment involved around 12,000 calls made over 19 months to over 50 congressional offices, with one call even containing a threat to kill a congressional staff member. The sentencing, handed down by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, includes 13 months of incarceration followed by three years of supervised release.
Prosecutors had pushed for an 18-month sentence, emphasizing the importance of deterring others from partaking in such threatening behavior. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger highlighted a 400% increase in threats against members of Congress over the past six years. The widespread increase in threats against elected officials raises concerns regarding the normalization of violent expressions stemming from political criticism that crosses the line into true threats of violence.
In May, Lilly pleaded guilty to two charges: one charge of interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure, and another for making repeated telephone calls. During his harassment campaign, which took place between February 2022 and November 2023, Lilly relocated from Maryland to Puerto Rico. Prosecutors revealed that he bombarded one lawmaker’s Washington office with over 500 calls in just a two-day span in February 2023.
