Man who threatened House leader agrees to plea

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A Tennessee man who left profanity-laden voicemails at the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has agreed to plead guilty in return for a 13-month sentence.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported that 62-year-old Glendon Swift of Lenoir City was detained Friday by a federal magistrate pending a change-of-plea hearing on Dec. 20 (http://bit.ly/rC6oU5).

The plea agreement must be approved by a judge at an April sentencing hearing. Swift's attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

According to an FBI affidavit, Swift left two messages, totaling about five minutes, at Cantor's suburban Richmond office on Oct. 27. In the messages, Swift threatened to "destroy" the congressman and made derogatory references to the fact that Cantor is Jewish.

In one of the calls, Swift said, "How about if I rape your daughter? How about that, if I come into your house and kill your wife?"

The calls were traced to Swift's cellphone.

Swift admitted to the FBI that he made the calls to the six-term Republican, saying he "got drunk the other night and started cussing people out." He said he did not remember threatening the congressman's family, however.

A spokeswoman for Cantor did not respond to an email seeking comment on Saturday.

This is not Cantor's first experience with threats. In April, Norman LeBoon of Philadelphia was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to posting a YouTube video in which he called Cantor "a liar" and "Lucifer" and threatened to shoot him.

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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com