WASHINGTON — A New York man faces prison time after he pleaded guilty to threatening to kill a Congressional staffer while calling members of Congress more than 12,000 times.
According to the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, 35-year-old Ade Salim Lilly pleaded guilty in a D.C. court Thursday to interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure and repeated telephone calls.
According to court documents, Lilly began calling 54 offices of Members of Congress across the country on Feb. 1, 2022. Of those calls, more than 6,500 were made by Lilly to officers within D.C. He placed more than 12,000 phone calls until he was arrested in Puerto Rico in November 2023.
Many of the calls were answered by congressional staff members or interns. In some calls, Lilly became angry and would use vulgar language toward the person on the other line of the phone.
During a two-day period in February 2023, Lilly called one Congressional representative 500 times.
Eventually, Congressional staff repeatedly asked Lilly to refrain from calling and U.S. Capitol Police informed Lilly on multiple occasions that his phone calls were unwanted, and due to a harassing nature, were prohibited by law.
Lilly then began masking his phone number while making more calls in order to trick Congressional staffers to answer his calls. During at least one phone call, Lilly threated to kill or injure the person who answered. On October 21, 2022, Lilly called into a congressional office in Washington D.C., threatening a staff member. “I will kill you, I am going to run you over, I will kill you with a bomb or grenade,” Lilly told the employee.
Lilly now faces a maximum sentence of five years of imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for the threat charge. As for the count of repeated phone calls, the charge carries a maximum of two years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
A federal judge will determine Lilly’s sentence based on the federal guidelines determined by Congress in August.
“Threatening another person’s safety or life is a crime, not protected speech,” said U.S. Attorney Graves. “This case should send a clear message that while people are secure in their rights to express themselves, they are not allowed to threaten people and those who do will be held accountable.”
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