N.J. man sentenced to prison for threatening to kill former U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo
Joseph Brodie, 40, of Millville, Cumberland County, was sentenced Thursday to seven years and three months in federal prison.
A South Jersey man was sentenced Thursday to seven years and three months in federal prison for threatening to kill former U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo and his staff, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey announced Friday.
Joseph Brodie, 40, of Millville, Cumberland County, was convicted in October 2018 by a federal jury in Camden of two counts of making threats to officials, officers, and employees of the United States.
LoBiondo, a Republican, retired after serving the Second District in South Jersey from 1995 until Jan. 3, 2019. The district includes Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem Counties, and parts of Gloucester, Burlington, Ocean, and Camden Counties.
According to evidence in Brodie’s case, prosecutors said, Brodie had reached out to LoBiondo in spring 2017 seeking assistance with his Veterans Administration medical care and treatment. That September, he contacted the congressman’s office and spoke to LoBiondo’s chief of staff and asked for a meeting with LoBiondo, but the chief of staff refused. An angered Brodie then called the chief of staff “a dead man.”
About 90 minutes later, Brodie sent an email to other staff members, threatening their lives as well as the lives of the congressman and the staff in his Mays Landing office, prosecutors said.