BILLINGS - A Billings man accused of threatening to murder U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy was arraignment Tuesday in federal court.
Richard Lee Rogers, 44, pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with threats to injure and murder a member of the United States Congress and with harassing telephone calls, according to a press release issued by the Montana office of U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich.
If convicted of the most serious crime, Rogers faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
Rogers was released pending further proceedings.
The indictment alleges that on Feb. 3, near Shepherd, Rogers threatened to assault and murder McCarthy, a member of the U.S. Congress who was the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, with the intent to retaliate against him for the performance of his official duties, the press release states.
The indictment further alleges that on Feb. 3, Rogers made repeated interstate phone calls to harass a person at the called number. It was unclear from the press release who Rogers was allegedly harassing.
