United Stated District Judge Gregory H. Woods sentenced Joshua Hall to 20 months in prison on Monday December 19th. The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York charged Mr. Hall for various crimes perpetrated in and around Yonkers. Hall, himself, is from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
On the first offense, Hall placed several threatening phone calls to a US Congressman from California on August 29, 2022. The official DOJ press release does not name him, but sources say the target was Eric Swalwell. In a series of calls with at least three different office staffers, Hall stated that he had firearms like an AR-15 and that he would find and shoot the Congressmen. He also told staffers that he would, “beat the s*** out of” him.
That offense alone is enough to warrant federal prison time, but Hall also engaged in over a year-long wire fraud and identity theft scam via social media. From September 2019 through December 2020, Hall raised funds under a fictitious political organization (Gays for Trump) supporting the re-election of then President Donald Trump. To lend legitimacy to this organization, he created fake social media profiles impersonating Trump family members to attract over 100,000 followers worldwide. He then used funds collected for this organization almost exclusively for his own living expenses and therefore defrauded numerous residents of New York state in the process.
On top of the 20 months in federal prison, the 23 year old Joshua Hall must also serve three years of supervised release.
