DULUTH, Ga. — Federal agents this week arrested a second Gwinnett County man within two months as part of a nationwide campaign targeting threats against elected officials.
Robert Davis Forney, 25, of Duluth was arrested on Monday and charged with making violent threats against Republican U.S. Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Deb Fischer of Nebraska. According to court documents, Forney left voicemails at both senators’ offices in January threatening sexual violence.
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Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson says the arrest comes two months after FBI agents arrested Aliakbar Mohammed Amin, 25, of Lilburn in April for allegedly threatening Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Both arrests fall under Operation Take Back America, a Justice Department initiative launched to combat rising threats against public officials. Federal investigators examined over 9,000 threats in 2024, up from 8,000 the previous year, according to Emory University law professor Fred Smith.
“This is not a Democratic problem or Republican problem. This is an American problem,” Smith said.
The cases demonstrate the federal government’s expanded resources for tracking threats being made over the phone and over the internet.
Attorney Jason Godwin with the Godwin Law Group says it can be difficult defending these kinds of cases against federal prosecutors.
“You’re going to have to get pretty crafty, considering a lot of these things that they’re going on are based on tape recordings. They’re going to have that person’s voice and know where that call came from,” Godwin said.
Forney faces up to five years in federal prison if convicted. He was released on a $10,000 bond and must avoid contact with anyone involved in the case, according to court records.
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