Man arrested for online threats to election workers in Arizona

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — Federal authorities have arrested an Alabama man for sending threatening messages to Maricopa County election workers during the 2022 primary elections.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 59-year-old Brian Jerry Ogstad is charged with five counts of communicating an interstate threat after he allegedly sent threatening messages via social media to the Maricopa County Elections Office in early August 2022. According to the indictment, he was reportedly riled up by false claims of fraud in the state’s gubernatorial race.

In one instance, Ogstad allegedly said: “You did it! Now you are [expletive]. Dead. You will all be executed for your crimes.” In another instance, he said: “You are lying, cheating [expletive] . . . you better not come in my church, my business or send your kids to my school. You are [expletive] stupid if you think your lives are safe…”

Days later, Ogstad reportedly made similar remarks, including one where he allegedly said: “[Y]ou people are so ducking [sic] stupid. Everyone knows you are lots [sic], cheats, frauds and in doing so in relation to elections have committed treason. You will all be executed. Bang [expletive].”

“We cannot permit election skeptics to threaten vigilante justice,” said U.S. Attorney Gary M. Restaino for the District of Arizona. “We will continue to prosecute true threats against Arizona’s election officials and other public servants, including direct messages sent on social media, or communications in any other format.”

Ogstad faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count if convicted.

How common are election-related threats in Arizona?

Several arrests connected to threats related to the fallout from the 2020 and 2022 elections have been made in recent years and months. Federal prosecutors told Arizona’s Family’s Angie Koehle that several criminal cases that resulted from threats against election workers are working their way through the courts, with Arizona being linked to a large percentage of them.

In August, 44-year-old Joshua Russell from Ohio pleaded guilty to leaving threatening messages to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. That same month, an Iowa man who threatened Arizona officials over the 2020 election was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after being convicted of threatening to lynch Maricopa County Board of Supervisor Clint Hickman and then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s Office, claiming the 2020 election was “fraudulent across the state” and also threatening to lynch the official for “not doing his job.”

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