SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Joseph Morelli, a 51-year-old man from Endicott, was sentenced to three months in prison on Thursday, August 24, for making threatening calls to a member of Congress in Washington D.C.

Morelli admitted that on March 3, 2022, he left a voicemail at the Washington D.C. office of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives saying, “I’m going to have to take your life into my own hands…I’m going to hurt you. Physically, I’m going to harm you.”

He also left a second voicemail saying, “I’m going to have to show you, to your face, right up front, what violence truly is. And I don’t think you’re going to like it.… I can pay someone 500 bucks to take a baseball bat and crack your skull.”

Morelli will begin his sentence in prison on October 2.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Southwick prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI and U.S. Capitol Police.