A man in Oklahoma pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stalking and threatening State Rep. Kevin Hern.
39-year-old Keith Eisenberger of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to cyberstalking and threatening to kidnap and assault Hern, as well as threatening to kidnap and assault his spouse.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate online threats of violence meant to intimidate elected officials or members of our community. Keith Eisenberger now understands there are legal repercussions to committing these criminal acts,” U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson said in a press release.
In response to Eisenberger’s threats, FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray clarified in a statement that the First Amendment does not protect individuals who threaten violence.
“While the First Amendment gives us the right to express our own opinions, it does not protect those who cross the line of making violent criminal threats,” Gray said. “The FBI will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to ensure elected officials can perform the duties of their office safely.”
The Bartlesville native reportedly frequented political events in his state to meet with lawmakers. After Hern won the general election in 2018 and was sworn in in January 2019, Eisenberger traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet the lawmaker where he demanded he resign.
Eisenberger admitted to sending “concerning statements” between November 27, 2018, and May 11, 2022, including a message that said he was going to kidnap the Republican lawmaker and his wife.
He also took to social media in 2020 to call for Hern to be “federally executed,” adding that he should face resignation, death, or expulsion.
“Kevin Hern and the State of Oklahoma deserve a final consequence of U.S. justice served that leads them to an end by federal execution,” he wrote on Facebook, according to the complaint. “If that satisfaction is not feasible, resignation, death or expulsion of Rep. Kevin Hern is acceptable.”
His harassment of the Republican lawmaker continued in 2021 when he threatened to kidnap Hern and his wife, Tammy Hern, in a social media post.
Eisenberger now faces a maximum felony sentence of 25 years in prison.
