From the Justice Department:

Adam Michael Nettina, age 34, of West Friendship, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to using the telephone to threaten a group that advocates for LGBTQI+ people.

As part of his plea agreement, Nettina also admitted sending messages to Maryland and Virginia state delegates due to their statements in support of transgender people.

According to court documents, on the evening of March 28, 2023, the victim organization received a threatening voicemail from a phone number, which investigators identified as belonging to Adam Michael Nettina.

The message referenced the March 27, 2023, mass shooting at a school in Nashville, Tennessee, involving multiple shooting fatalities, where police identified the perpetrator as a transgender woman.

During the call, numerous threats were made including, “We’ll cut your throats. We’ll put a bullet in your head. You’re going to kill us? We’re going to kill you ten times more in full.”

Nettina admitted that he left this voicemail for the purpose of issuing a threat and with the knowledge that the voicemail would be viewed as a threat.

Further, Nettina intentionally selected the advocacy organization as a target of his message because of the actual and perceived gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation of the people who work at and are assisted by the organization.

As detailed in his plea agreement, on March 31, 2022, a Maryland State Delegate posted a message of support on social media in honor of Trans Day of Visibility.

Nettina responded on social media later that same day, which stated, among other things, that he had “begun the formal process of getting you excommunicated . . . ” from the Catholic Church.

On November 8, 2022, the delegate was reelected. Nettina sent the delegate another message on social media, stating: “Baby killing terrroist. Enjoy hell You’re going sooner than you think.”

Finally, as outlined in the court documents, on October 13, 2022, an online news story was published about an interview a Virginia State Delegate gave in which she advocated for the prevention of abuse towards transgender children.

Two days later, on October 15, 2022, Nettina used the internet to send an email to the delegate’s press email account, stating: “The delegate is a terrorist. You are a terrorist. You deserve to be shot and hung in the streets. You want to come after people? Let’s go b**ch.”

Nettina also sent a similar message to another email address of the delegate two minutes later. Nettina intentionally selected the delegate and her campaign staff as the recipient of his email because of the actual and perceived gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation of the people and constituents for whom the delegate had expressed support.

Nettina faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for making threats transmitted by interstate communications. U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III has scheduled sentencing for Nettina on November 3, 2023, at 9:30 a.m.

The above-cited advocacy organization is the Human Rights Campaign. According to Nettina’s LinkedIn profile, he created direct mail pieces for the House Freedom Caucus and blogged for the far-right site Catholic Vote, the onetime home of former NOM communications director Thomas Peters. In 2016, he authored a Catholic Vote post about the Pulse massacre titled, “We Have Nothing to Apologize For.”