Michael J. Moore, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announced that Tommy Lee Rogers, age 61, of Cordele, Georgia, was sentenced yesterday to a term of three years in prison by the Honorable W. Louis Sands, Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.  Rogers’ prison sentence will be followed by a period of three years on supervised release.  Rogers was convicted by a jury on April 13, 2011, of threatening to assault federal employees and of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 115(a)(1)(B) & (b)(4) and Title 18 United States Code, Section 875(c). 

                Evidence presented at trial showed that on June 10, 2010, Rogers was speaking by phone with representatives of a law firm in Indiana about having been denied Social Security disability benefits.  When he was told that he did not qualify for disability benefits, Rogers became angry and said he was going to kill or hurt someone by driving his truck through the Social Security office building in Cordele, Georgia.  The law firm representatives conveyed the threat to the manager of the Social Security office in Cordele, who in turned called 911.  Rogers also called a newspaper reporter in Cordele and told him that “something big” was about to happen at the Social Security office.  The reporter also called the police.  Police officers responded and located Rogers approximately two blocks from the Social Security office.  Rogers had lost control of his truck and hit a concrete retaining wall alongside the ditch of an alley.

                Sentencing guidelines had called for a sentence of 51 to 63 months imprisonment.  However, Judge Sands determined that the three years sentence was adequate to provide just punishment and to reflect the seriousness of the offense.

                This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Cordele Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney K. Alan Dasher prosecuted the case.  Inquiries regarding the case should be directed to Sue McKinney, Public Affairs Specialist, United States Attorney’s Office at (478) 621-2602.