Texas man gets 6 months in prison for threatening Maryland doctor who advocated for COVID vaccine

A Texas man was sentenced Tuesday to six months in federal prison for sending a threatening and racist message to a Maryland medical doctor who publicly advocated for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Earlier this year, 52-year-old Scott Eli Harris, of Aubrey, Texas, pleaded guilty to sending the message from his phone to the doctor.

The doctor, whose name wasn’t revealed in court papers, was simply identified as “Dr. L. W., who had been a vocal proponent of the COVID-19 vaccine.”

Harris’ message included violent and explicit threats, such as, “Never going to take your wonder drug. My 12 gauge promises I won’t,” and “I’m a 5th generation U.S. Army veteran and a sniper… I can’t wait for the shooting to start.”

The message also referenced the doctor’s Asian-American race and national origin, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

His sentence, which also includes three years of supervised release, was announced by U.S. Attorney for Maryland Erek L. Barron in a news release Wednesday.

“While we are all entitled to our own opinion, no one has the right to threaten the life of someone because of race, national origin, or because of holding different views,” Barron said. “Threats like these will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clark said that “members of our Asian American Pacific Islander communities should never have to live in fear of violence because of their race or national origin,” adding that “threats of violence, especially those driven by racial animus and misguided beliefs concerning the COVID-19 pandemic will not be tolerated.”

Harris’ attorney, federal public defender Elizabeth Oyer, told The Baltimore Sun after his plea hearing that her client was “embarrassed by his conduct” and that he “sincerely apologizes for the harm he has caused.”

His sentence should serve as a “warning to those who threaten or take violent action based on belief or ideology and breaks the law, that the FBI will enforce the rule of law,” Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski said in a statement Wednesday.