ATLANTA (AP) — A Man from Alabama who left threatening phone messages to Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis and the county sheriff last summer because he was angry over an investigation into former President Donald Trump, was sentenced Tuesday to nearly two years in prison.

Arthur Ray Hanson II, of Huntsville, made these phone calls a little more than a week before Trump and 18 others were charged in Fulton County in August 2023 for their efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election Federal prosecutors say Hanson left threatening voicemails containing profanity and racial slurs for. Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat.

U.S. District Judge JP Boulee in Atlanta sentenced Hanson to one year and nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He also ordered Hanson to pay a fine of $7,500.

Hanson pleaded guilty leave threatening phone messages. He apologized to Willis and Labat during Tuesday’s hearing.

The indictment against Trump returned by a Fulton County grand jury on August 14, 2023, was the fourth criminal case filed against the former president in a matter of months. He accuses Trump and his allies of participating in a vast scheme to try to illegally overturn his narrow defeat in the state to Democrat Joe Biden.

When Labat was questioned at a press conference shortly before the indictment if Trump would have a passport photo taken If charged, Labat said, “Unless someone tells me otherwise, we are following our normal practices and so no matter your status, we will have a mug shot ready for you.” »

Hanson called Fulton County government customer service and left voicemails for the prosecutor and sheriff on August 6, 2023. Prosecutors included transcripts of the messages in a sentencing memo submitted to the court.

In a message to Willis, Hanson warned her to be careful, that she would not always have someone around to protect her and that there would be times when she would be vulnerable. “When you charge Trump with this fourth indictment, every time you’re alone, look over your shoulder,” he said, according to the transcript.

In the message to Labat, Hanson threatened the sheriff, warning him not to take a photo of Trump. “I’m just telling you, if you take a picture of the president and you’re the reason this happened, bad (expletive) is probably going to happen to you,” the voicemail said, according to court records.

FBI agents traced the calls to Hanson’s cell phone. When officers asked him about the calls, he initially denied making them and said he did not know who Willis and Labat were, prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo. After agents played recordings of the calls for him, he said he was angry about Trump’s indictment in Fulton County and only wanted to make Willis and Labat uncomfortable, “He would never harm them,” the memo said.

Officers told Hanson to stop making threatening calls, and he said he would, the memo states. But then, about a month later, he called the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness tip line to complain about an antiterrorism initiative. He said on that call that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas should be hanged, the memo said.