A 62-year-old man admitted on Thursday to threatening to kill a prominent federal official, their relative and the relative’s spouse, according to federal prosecutors.
Michael Mahoney, of South Dennis, pleaded guilty to a single count of transmitting interstate threats to injure another person. A federal court judge set sentencing for Mahoney on Oct. 29, 2025, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley’s office said in a statement.
On March 28, 2025, while at dinner outside Massachusetts, the relative of a federal official got a phone call from an anonymous number at around 10:15 p.m. When the relative answered the phone, the caller, later identified to be Mahoney, confirmed their full name, according to Foley’s office.
At that point, Mahoney began screaming, telling the relative he was going to kill them, their spouse and the federal official. On the call, Mahoney referred to both the relative’s spouse and the official by their first names. The relative hung up after 12 seconds, while Mahoney was still screaming. Mahoney called back, but the relative did not answer, Foley’s office said.
Neither the official nor their relative are identified in court filings or in a statement from Foley’s office.
Call records taken from the relative’s phone service number indicated the originating number for the threatening call belonged to Mahoney. When law enforcement approached his home in South Dennis on March 29, Mahoney refused to answer the door or his phone, according to the statement.
Mahoney was eventually arrested and charged in April.
The charge of transmitting interstate threats to injure another person carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.
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