A West Virginia man has been sentenced to over three years in prison after sending emails threatening to kill Dr. Anthony Fauci and his family. 

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced 56-year-old Thomas Patrick Connally, Jr. to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release for threatening Fauci and other health officials, including former National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a Department of Justice news release. 

Connally admitted to sending the threats to Fauci as part of a plea agreement. He sent the emails from December 2020 to July 2021, writing in one that Fauci’s family would be “dragged into the street, beaten to death, and set on fire,” according to prosecutors. He also sent multiple emails to Collins threatening violence against him and his family if he didn’t “stop speaking about the need for ‘mandatory’ COVID-19 vaccinations,” the DOJ said. Connally was arrested in July 2021 after an investigation found he authored the emails, which were sent from an anonymous account. 

“Everyone has the right to disagree, but you do not have the right to threaten a federal official’s life,” Erek L. Barron, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, said.  

Christian J. Schrank of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General also said the sentencing shows “that individuals threatening violence against federal officials and others will be held accountable for their crimes.”