WASHINGTON — A Howard County man was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for threats made toward members of the LGBTQ+ community and Maryland and Virginia state lawmakers.
Adam Michael Nettina, 34, of West Friendship, pleaded guilty in August to one felony count of transmitting threats by interstate communication. As part of his plea agreement, Nettina also agreed his offense qualified as a hate crime.
Nettina was charged last year with leaving a threatening voice mail at the D.C. office of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the United States. The call came just one day after six people, including three children, were killed in a shooting at The Covenant School – a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee. Metropolitan Nashville Police said the shooter, who was also killed, had been receiving treatment for an emotional disorder and had recently begun identifying as a trans man.
In the voicemail, Nettina referenced the Covenant School shooting and repeatedly threatened violence.
“You guys going to shoot up our schools now? Is that how it’s going to be? You just gonna kill little kids?” Nettina reportedly said. “Let me tell you something, we’re waiting, we’re waiting. And if you want a war, we’ll have a war. And we’ll f---ing slaughter you back. We’ll cut your throats. We’ll put a bullet in your head. We’re not going to give a f---. You started this bulls---. You’re going to kill us? We’re going to kill you ten times more in full.”
In their sentencing memo seeking four years in prison, federal prosecutors said the call was just one of multiple violent, offensive and threatening messages he’d left between March and November 2022. As part of his plea, Nettina admitted to sending messages to Maryland and Virginia state delegates in two prior incidents. In October 2022, Nettina emailed a Virginia state delegate who had advocated for the prevention of abuse toward transgender children, writing, “You are a terrorist. You deserve to be shot and hung in the streets. You want to come after people? Let’s go b***.”
In another message, sent to a Maryland state delegate who had posted support for the transgender community, the DOJ said Nettina wrote, “Better watch out[.] Baby killing terrorist. Enjoy hell[.] You’re going sooner than you think.”
When he was arrested in March 2023 at his job at a cigar bar in Eldersburg, Maryland, police found a 9mm handgun and two loaded magazines in his backpack. They also found a long-barrel rifle and 140 rounds of ammunition in his bedroom, along with two AK-47 rifles and more ammunition in a storage unit in Virginia. According to prosecutors’ sentencing memo, Nettina also had another handgun located at his father’s residence, where he was living.
Nettina’s attorney, Joseph Murtha, sought a time-served sentence for the approximately seven months he’d served in detention since his arrest. Murtha said Nettina had struggling with lifelong mental health issues and problems with alcohol abuse – and said his arrest has been a “turning point that very well may have saved him.”
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge George L. Russell III sentenced Nettina to two years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. He will receive credit for the time already served since his arrest last March.
Prior to November 2022, Nettina had been working for a Virginia direct-mail fundraising organization as a campaign copywriter. According to his LinkedIn page, his clients included “House Freedom Caucus members and leading Republican challengers in targeted races.”
Nettina had also written multiple articles as an independent contractor for CatholicVote, an Indiana-based 501(c)(4) organization that bills itself as a “community of patriotic Americans who believe that the timeless truth of the Catholic faith are good for America.” Nettina’s articles for CatholicVote included a June 2016 piece in response to the fatal shooting of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando titled “We Have Nothing to Apologize For.” CatholicVote removed Nettina’s articles from its website last year after WUSA9 reached out for comment. The organization also issued a statement saying it has “zero tolerance for threats of violence from any employee or independent contractor.”