William Robert Braddock III, a 41-year-old former congressional candidate from St. Petersburg, Florida, has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly threatening to call a hit man squad to kill his political opponent during the 2021 Republican primary for Florida’s 13th Congressional District.
The Department of Justice announced that Braddock is accused of making multiple threats on June 8, 2021, including a statement that he would “call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” to make his rival “disappear.”
While the indictment does not name the victims, referring to them only as “Victim 1” and “Victim 2,” previous court documents and public statements show that the target was Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who went on to win the election.
The charges stem from a phone call Braddock allegedly made to an acquaintance of Luna’s, during which he made the threats.
This call was reportedly recorded secretly and later used as evidence in a civil case where Luna sought and obtained a temporary restraining order against Braddock.
In 2021 court proceedings, Luna testified about the alleged threats.”
Mr. Braddock clearly hated my guts and wanted to hurt me. I started getting very afraid of him. It was horrifying, and it still is,” she said. “I think he’s an evil person. I think he has definitely emotionally terrorized me.”
After the threat, Braddock reportedly ended his campaign and left the United States. The Justice Department reports that he was later found residing in the Philippines, from where he was recently deported. Braddock made his first court appearance in Los Angeles on Thursday.
The case is being pursued as part of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, established in 2021 to address the growing concern of violent threats against election workers and officials. Braddock faces one count of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
A spokesperson for the congresswoman stated, “Female members of Congress are disproportionately targeted for stalking, violence, and harassment compared to their male counterparts. This alarming trend points to a broader and more disturbing issue of violence in the political arena.”
Luna “has faced a growing number of death threats” in the past month alone, and “violence must never be tolerated,” the spokesman said.