A Philadelphia man has been sentenced to serve 10 months in prison, as well as pay a fine and serve probation, after being convicted of threatening to kill a poll watcher from the Western District of Pennsylvania.
In a statement, law enforcement officials said John Courtney Pollard, 63, of Philadelphia, has been sentenced to 10 months in prison, must pay a $5,000 fine and will spend a year on probation following his release from prison after he sent a regional election integrity director threatening messages on Sept. 6, 2026.
Court documents note the messages that Pollard sent included these threats:
- “I will KILL YOU IF YOU DON’T ANSWER ME!”
- “Your days are numbered, B****!”
- “GONNA FING FIND YOU AND SKIN YOU ALIVE AND USE YOUR SKIN FOR FING TOILET PAPER, YOU F*ING ***T!”
The threats were sent after the victim posted on social media in an effort to recruit volunteers to watch the polls on an upcoming Election Day that year.
Pollard, court documents note, initially said he was interested in being a poll watcher before he made threats.
“This prosecution, and the Court’s sentence of incarceration in the Bureau of Prisons, sends a clear and unmistakable message that threats against election workers and other public servants will be met with swift, certain, and just punishment,” said United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Troy Rivetti, in a statement. “Our office and our law enforcement partners remain committed to protecting free and fair elections.”
Court documents note that, during Pollard’s trial, the victim testified that the threats “began a year-long ordeal filled with fear and constant vigilance.”
“Many of us are simply fulfilling our civic duty, yet we are becoming targets of a kind of hatred that is difficult to describe,” the victim testified, court documents note.
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