FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Florida woman has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for making threats involving guns and schools that led to a massive lockdown affecting a quarter-million Broward County students last year.
A federal judge imposed the sentence Thursday on 48-year-old Ellisa Martinez, who pleaded guilty to sending a threatening email to conservative radio talk show host Joyce Kauffman. The judge imposed a harsher sentence than recommended under federal guidelines because of the scale of the lockdown.
Martinez said she wrote Kauffman in November after learning Kauffman was to become chief of staff for Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West.
Her lawyer says Martinez was trying to make a political point about gun rights. But her references to weapons and possible attacks on schools or government buildings triggered the lockdown.
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