Former Georgia poll worker sentenced for bomb threat to Jones County voting site
26-year-old Nicholas Wimbish was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for threatening a Jones County voting location and lying to the FBI.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A former Georgia poll worker from Milledgeville has been sentenced to federal prison for threatening to bomb a Jones County voting location and lying to the FBI during the investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.
U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell sentenced 26-year-old Nicholas Wimbish to 20 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, and ordered him to pay a $2,000 fine on Thursday. Wimbish pleaded guilty on February 14 to one count of conveying false information and making hoaxes.
“Ensuring the security of our polling places is essential. Americans must be able to express their political choices at the ballot box without fear of violence or harm,” U.S. Attorney William R. ‘Will’ Keyes said in the release. “These threats undermine the core values of our nation, and we will vigorously pursue justice in such matters.”
FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown said the FBI takes all threat-to-life matters “very seriously.”
“This case demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to hold accountable anyone who tries to intimidate a public official or interfere with the election process,” he said.
According to court documents referenced in the release, Wimbish was working as a poll worker at the Jones County Elections Office in Gray on October 16, 2024, when he got into a verbal altercation with a voter. Investigators said Wimbish later drafted and mailed a letter posing as the voter that threatened to bomb the precinct and harm poll workers.
The letter, mailed October 17, 2024, and received by the Jones County Elections Superintendent on October 22, contained threats of violence, including references to a ‘boom toy,’ which Wimbish admitted he knew meant an explosive device, according to the release. The letter was later found on his computer.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Wimbish also admitted to lying to FBI agents by falsely claiming the voter sent the letter and denying that he researched himself online.
