ATHENS, Ga. — In May, a former security subcontractor working for the Athens-Clarke County Democratic Party campaign office entered a guilty plea to one count of communicating a bomb threat after threatening to blow up the building in 2020.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia, Jessica Diane Higginbotham, of Elberton, was indicted in December 2020 for threatening to blow up the campaign office while Georgia’s U.S. Senators were in Athens to campaign during the 2020 U.S. Senate special election.
Officials said Higginbotham not only threatened to bomb the office, but lied to federal investigators when they investigated the threat, initially denying that she’d made the threat.
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After entering her guilty plea in May, she was sentenced Tuesday for more than a year in federal prison.
“Threats of violence intended to disturb the peace and disrupt the democratic process are taken seriously in the Middle District of Georgia and will not be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said in a statement. “I commend the many local and federal law enforcement agents whose collaboration in this case ensured a safe outcome for our community.”
Higginbotham made the threat in what officials call an effort to disrupt the voting process and disturb the peace.
Court documents said she texted a DSCC employee on Dec. 3, 2020 saying she would be “coming by either tonight or in the morning to set a bomb up. So I can blow all the Democrats up” and that there were other individuals who would take similar action at other offices.
The message continued, saying that if she couldn’t “stop you by breaking in and destroying the property then I will blow everyone up. So be ready to be blown up. This is going to either happen tonight or in the morning. Hope you like being on the wrong team.”
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Immediately, federal agents investigated the threat. Using a series of emergency disclosure requests, agents found a cell phone belonging to Higginbotham, and determined the threat was sent from her phone.
The next day, Dec. 4, 2020, agents found her in an Athens coffee shop, phone in hand. She vomited as agents approached her, then denied sending the threats.
A search warrant was used to look through her cell phone and agents were able to link the email account used in the bomb threat to Higginbotham. During the investigation, agents also learned there had been a break-in at the campaign office the week before where a laptop had been stolen.
However, investigators said it looked like the break-in was staged, because “tables were turned over, but the building was locked with no evidence of a forced entry.” They found the stolen laptop with Higginbotham’s personal items, according to officials.
After, Higginbotham admitted to making the threat to bomb the building. In May 2023, she entered a guilty plea in federal court.
“The FBI and our partners take each threat seriously and will always fully investigate and analyze each threat to determine its credibility,” Robert Gibbs, Supervisory Senior Resident Agent of FBI Atlanta’s Macon office, said. “Higginbotham’s threat, although a hoax, diverted precious law enforcement resources and wasted taxpayer dollars, and for that she will be held accountable by spending time behind bars.”
On Tuesday, Higginbotham was sentenced. She will serve 18 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, according to USDOJ.
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