Philadelphia man charged with allegedly making gruesome threats against person recruiting poll watchers

By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

(CNN) — A Philadelphia man is facing federal charges for allegedly threatening to skin alive a state party representative who was recruiting poll watchers, according to an indictment unsealed Monday.

Prosecutors say that 62-year-old John Pollard sent several text messages to the representative, who isn’t named in court documents. The party also isn’t identified.

The charges, which come just over two weeks before the 2024 presidential election, are part of an effort by the Justice Department to combat threats and violence against election workers.

According to court documents, Pollard sent the threatening messages in September in response to a social media post from the representative that asked for volunteers to help “observe the polls on Election Day.”

“I am interested in being a poll watcher,” the first message from him reads, according to court documents.

When the representative did not immediately respond, Pollard allegedly wrote again, saying: “I will KILL YOU IF YOU DON’T ANSWER ME!”

“Your days are numbered, B**ch,” he wrote in a second. And in a third: “GONNA F***ING FIND YOU AND SKIN YOU ALIVE AND USE YOUR SKIN FOR F***ING TOILET PAPER.”

Pollard is charged with transmitting interstate threats, which carries a five-year maximum prison sentence. Pollard does not yet have an attorney listed in the court docket.

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