Chicago Heights Man Pleads Guilty to Threatening Violence at Biden Inauguration

(MotionStudios / Pixabay)(MotionStudios / Pixabay)

The suburban Chicago man who threatened to “kill any m-----f---ing Democrat that steps on the m-----f---ing lawn” during President Joe Biden’s January inauguration has pleaded guilty before a federal judge.

Thanks to our sponsors:

View all sponsors

Louis Capriotti, 46, entered a guilty plea Thursday, court records indicate, admitting to leaving what a federal judge had previously described as “very explicit and concerning” voicemails in which he threatened violence against attendees at Biden’s inauguration.

The Chicago Heights man had repeatedly called multiple congressional offices in Washington, D.C., in recent years and left “disturbing, anonymous messages” that often included “profanity along with derogatory remarks concerning the race, religion, political affiliation, or physical appearance” of some members of Congress, according to a criminal complaint.

But prosecutors said Capriotti “crossed the line” Dec. 29, 2020, when he left a voicemail for a member of Congress in which he called Democrats “terrorists,” and said, “We will surround the m-----f---ing White House and we will kill any m-----f---ing Democrat that steps on the m-----f---ing lawn.”

Capriotti finished that message by identifying a former New Jersey governor by name and stating he’d “like to put one right in (their) f---ing dome,” prosecutors said in the complaint.

During a hearing earlier this year, an Assistant U.S. Attorney said this message marked a “very clear threat to kill.”

Capriotti has remained in Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center since January. He faces up to five years in prison, and court records indicate he is scheduled for sentencing Jan. 25, 2022.

Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson[email protected] | (773) 509-5431


Thanks to our sponsors:

View all sponsors

Thanks to our sponsors:

View all sponsors