Florida man gets 15 months for threatening to kill Bernie Sanders

[August 24, 2019]    (Reuters) - A Florida man was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Friday for threatening to behead U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, federal prosecutors said.

The man, 58-year-old Robert Pratersch of Kissimmee, in September 2018 left three voicemail messages at Sanders' Vermont office where he made anti-Semitic threats and threatened to kill Sanders by beheading him in an "ISIS-style" video.

Pratersch was convicted in April of threatening a federal official and making threats over interstate communications media in April. He could have been sentenced to as much as 15 years in prison.

A public defender representing Pratersch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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