Man pleads guilty to charge he threatened Moms Demand Action

BOSTON (AP) — A 31-year-old Army veteran has pleaded guilty to charges that he made violent threats against an organization that supports stronger firearm laws.

Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said Wednesday that Drummond Neil Smithson made the threat in a letter he mailed to the Department of Veterans Affairs in July 2020.

In it, Smithson referenced his concern that the VA would withhold his pension, and vowed that if they did, he would retaliate against members of the group Moms Demand Action, a coalition of volunteer groups that works to reduce gun violence.

“If you take my pension there is going to be retaliation,” he wrote in the letter, according to information provided by the office of Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins.

Smithson pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to one charge of using interstate communications to transmit a threat to injure, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.

It was unclear Wednesday if Smithson was represented by an attorney. Authorities said he is a resident of the state of Florida but mailed the letter containing the threat from Massachusetts.

Sentencing in the case is scheduled for February.