Edwin Guerrero

Introduction

Edwin Guerrero is a 26-year-old Massachusetts man sentenced in September 2026 to nine years and 11 months in federal prison — followed by three years of probation — for a series of antisemitic, graphically violent social-media threats against U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, a Florida Republican, and Fine’s two young sons. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe in Orlando after Guerrero pleaded guilty on March 23 to federal charges stemming from threats he posted in August 2024, when Fine was still a Florida state legislator.

The Justice Department case drew attention for the chilling specificity of the threats — posted along with images of firearms and a dead man — and for a sentence harsher than those in comparable threat cases, a disparity Guerrero’s defense flagged. He was also ordered to pay a $15,000 fine.

Background Information

Guerrero, a Massachusetts resident, worked as a cook at a Little Caesar’s pizza restaurant and as a machine operator at Alpine Precision and Tecomet in Andover, Massachusetts, according to court papers cited by FlaglerLive. Court filings from his defense describe a difficult childhood: his mother was often in jail and relinquished custody when he was 2, and he did not meet her until he was 8; his father was in prison for much of his childhood, and Guerrero was raised by his grandparents, graduating high school in 2018.

Fine, his target, is Jewish, outspoken about antisemitism, and wears a kippah; he represented the Brevard County area in the Florida House before winning a special election to the U.S. House in April 2025, where his district includes all of Flagler County. The threats were made in August 2024, when Guerrero was living in Spain — investigators traced the posts to a Spanish IP address.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Guerrero’s convictions — entered on his guilty plea of March 23, 2026 — and his sentence are a matter of court record. The only unresolved matters are state charges, still pending and expected to result in a time-served disposition, per FlaglerLive.

Between August 10 and 15, 2024, Guerrero used his social-media account to post a series of antisemitic threats directed at then-state Rep. Fine, tagged to his account, @VoteRandyFine. “Looks like I’m taking a little field trip to brevard county Florida let’s play a game,” one post read, attached to a photo of an individual holding what appeared to be a firearm. In subsequent messages he attached a photograph of a deceased man with severe head trauma, writing that Fine’s “two little precious Jewish boys will suffer the same fate” and adding, “This is gonna be Randy Fine very very soon … see you in Florida!” A fourth message read: “Why don’t you show us where you’re at? … your scared of getting your brains blown in? Don’t worry we’ll make sure your sons watch …” The threats were framed in antisemitic slurs, according to the Justice Department’s release.

Investigators associated the Spanish IP address with Guerrero. After he returned to the United States, he was interviewed by federal agents and admitted sending the threatening messages; a search of his phone found search history containing antisemitic and anti-Israel content, including “Israel should burn in hell.”

Fine said the threats that named his children — sent on his son’s first day of school — prompted a police presence at the boy’s school. “I never thought my sons would be the victims of a violent federal felony,” Fine said, adding that the threats “made my blood run cold” and that he “was afraid for me and I was afraid for my boys.” Guerrero initially faced state charges and agreed to plead guilty to them, with Florida recommending a two-and-a-half-year sentence; two weeks later a federal grand jury indicted him, and he pleaded guilty to the federal charges.

Public Reaction and Consequences

At a two-and-a-half-hour sentencing hearing in Orlando, Judge Moe ruled the threats were motivated by hate and stressed the severity of threats against Jewish people and the need to deter threats against elected officials, handing down a sentence FlaglerLive called significantly more severe than in other recent explicit-threat cases — a gap Guerrero’s defense signaled it may challenge.

Fine pressed for severity: “Threaten violence against an elected official in Florida or their family, and your life as you know it is over,” he said. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida said threats of intimidation or harm against public officials or anyone for their political or religious beliefs “will not be tolerated” and that such acts would be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law.” Guerrero’s assistant federal public defender, James Skuthan, called the threats “inexcusable” while describing his client’s remorse, his neglectful childhood, and the death of the grandmother he was closest to, which he could not attend because he was incarcerated.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Courtney Richardson-Jones.

Current Status

Guerrero, 26, is serving his sentence in federal prison, with three years of probation to follow and a $15,000 fine owed; he had already spent roughly 25 months in custody awaiting resolution of the case. The pending Florida state charges are expected to be resolved with time served, according to FlaglerLive. His defense has signaled concern about sentencing disparities relative to comparable threat cases, keeping some attention on the case even after sentencing.

Fine, who was first elected to Congress in April 2025, is running for reelection, and the case has become part of his public profile as an outspoken opponent of antisemitism.

Impact on Their Career/Life

For Guerrero, a restaurant cook and machine operator with no prior public profile, the case ends in a federal prison term that will keep him incarcerated into his mid-30s, a felony record, a $15,000 fine, and a lifetime designation as the man who threatened to blow a congressman’s brains out in front of his children. For Fine and his family, the sentence closed an ordeal that began with a photo of a corpse and ended with police guarding a middle-schooler, and Fine framed the outcome as a warning: threats against elected officials or their families, he said, end with “your life as you know it … over.” The case is already being cited in debates over how heavily courts should punish online political threats, with the defense’s disparity argument feeding a wider conversation about inconsistent sentencing in similar prosecutions.

Sources

• New York Post (JNS), “Antisemitic sicko handed nearly 10 years for threatening to kill Jewish Rep. Randy Fine”, Sep. 24, 2026. source
• FlaglerLive, “Nearly 10 Years in Prison for Man Who Threatened Randy Fine; Defense Signals ‘Disparities’”, Sep. 23, 2026. source
• Action News Jax, “Man gets nearly 10 years for antisemitic threats against Congressman Randy Fine and family”, Sep. 23, 2026. source