Federal jury acquits man of making threatening calls after Jan. 6 attack

A federal jury in Las Vegas has acquitted a man of charges that he made threatening phone calls to state officials the day after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Prosecutors had accused Gjergi Luke Juncaj of calling an employee at the Nevada Secretary of State election’s division multiple times on Jan. 7, 2021, and saying that the employee and others in the officer “are all going to die,” according to an indictment. Juncaj faced four counts of making a threatening phone call, but jurors on Wednesday found him not guilty of all the charges.

The day before the phone calls, hundreds of people had stormed the U.S. Capitol, leading to riots that left five dead. More than 1,000 people have since been arrested across the country in connection with the attack, the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Nevada has said.

Juncaj also goes by the names Gjurgj Juncaj and George Juncaj, according to federal court records. He was indicted on Jan. 19, 2022, and was arrested a week later in Las Vegas, the U.S. attorney’s office has previously said.

Federal public defenders and the U.S. attorney’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment on Friday.

Jancaj faced a maximum of two years in prison for each of the four charges, the U.S. attorney’s office previously said.

The morning of Jan. 7, 2021, a man called the Nevada Secretary of State’s election division four times in less than 20 minutes, although the man did not disclose his identify during the calls, according to Juncaj’s indictment.

The man accused the employee and others in the office of “stealing the election,” and saying that the employees were going to die.

“I hope you all go to jail for treason,” the man said, according to the indictment. “I hope your children get molested.”

The employee contacted police, and the man stopped calling after an officer contacted him, according to the indictment.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.