Georgia man charged with making threats against Senators Ted Cruz and Deb Fischer: DOJ
Robert Davis Forney of Duluth, Georgia, is accused of leaving threatening voicemails for Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska in January, according to federal prosecutors. The messages allegedly contained threats of sexual violence against both senators and Cruz's family members.
Forney was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 10 and charged with communicating threats in interstate commerce. He appeared before a federal magistrate judge on Monday for arraignment.
"Threatening our elected officials and their families is an act of violence that undermines our entire democracy," U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement. "Political discourse and disagreements never justify resorting to vile attacks against our nation's leaders."
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FBI Special Agent Paul Brown, based in Atlanta, emphasized that threatening public officials is a serious federal crime. "There is no place for political violence or threats of violence in the United States," Brown said.
The case comes amid heightened concerns about violence against political figures. Over the weekend, former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman from Minnesota and her husband were killed, and Senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot in what authorities described as targeted attacks.
The suspect in that case, Vance Boelter, was arrested after a two-day manhunt.
The Georgia case is part of what the Justice Department calls "Operation Take Back America," a nationwide initiative aimed at combating violent crime and illegal immigration, according to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg.
If convicted, Forney could face federal prison time.
The FBI and United States Capitol Police are investigating the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bret R. Hobson and Brent Alan Gray leading the prosecution.
Georgia man charged with making threats against Senators Ted Cruz and Deb Fischer: DOJ originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
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Investigators also found images of an adult woman secretly filmed entering and exiting a bathtub, and identified her as Gardner's ex-girlfriend. That woman as well as the gym's owner, Candi Workman, told investigators the images appeared to come from Jump'In Gymnastics' facility in Purvis, Mississippi, which has since been closed. SafeSport has long touted that it can deliver sanctions in cases where criminal charges are not pursued as key to its mission. However, Gardner's ability to land a job in health care illustrates the limits of that power: It can ban people from sports but that sanction is not guaranteed to reach the general public. While not commenting about Gardner's case directly, it said in a statement provided to AP that a number of issues factor into why cases can take so long to close, including the 8,000 reports it receives a year with only around 30 full-time investigators. It has revamped some procedures, it said, in an attempt to become more efficient. 'While the Center is able and often does cooperate in law enforcement investigations,' it said, 'law enforcement is not required to share information, updates, or even confirm an investigation is ongoing.' USA Gymnastics President Li Li Leung called the center's task 'really tough, difficult to navigate.' 'I would like to see more consistency with their outcomes and sanctions,' Leung said. 'I would like to see more standardization on things. I would like to see more communication, more transparency from their side.' As the investigation proceeded, Gardner said on his Facebook page he had landed a new job in May 2024 as a surgical technologist at MercyOne West Des Moines Medical Center. It's a role that calls for positioning patients on the operating room table, and assisting with procedures and post-surgery care. Asked about Gardner's employment, hospital spokesman Todd Mizener told the AP: 'The only information I can provide is that he is no longer' at the hospital. Meanwhile, the case lingers, leaving lives in limbo more than three years after the SafeSport Center and police first learned of it. 'SafeSport is now part of a larger problem rather than a solution, if it was ever a solution,' said attorney Silvey. 'The most fundamental professional task such as coordination with local or federal law enforcement gets botched on a daily basis, hundreds of times a year now.'
