A Venezuelan man who admitted to placing 96 threatening phone calls to Newtown residents two days after the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre in 2012 has been sentenced to a year in prison.
Wilfrido A. Cardenas Hoffman, 30, of Venezuela, pleaded guilty in Hartford federal court was sentenced at 10 a.m. Thursday to 12 months and one day in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Federal prosecutors said Cardenas Hoffman used voice-over-IP technology to call the homes of Newtown residents on Dec. 16, 2012, claiming to be school shooter Adam Lanza.
"This is Adam Lanza. I’m gonna [expletive] kill you. You’re dead. You’re dead. You hear me? You’re dead," Cardenas Hoffman said in one of the calls, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
Authorities obtained a criminal complaint charging him with "transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce to injure the person of another" in May 2013 and officially arrested him on June 21 of this year when Cardenas Hoffman traveled through Miami International Airport.
“These threatening calls, just two days after the tragedy, compounded the collective suffering of all of the citizens of Newtown and needlessly stressed law enforcement resources at a critical time. It is reprehensible criminal conduct. We are committed to investigating similar hoax crimes and prosecuting all who commit them, here and abroad,” U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly said in a statement.
Federal investigators said Cardenas Hoffman called about 47 phone numbers more than 90 times. He has been in custody since his arrest in June.
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A judge ordered Cardenas Hoffman to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at a prior court appearance in New Haven.
