Ohio man charged after Pa. lawmaker gets 'blood will roll' phone message

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(The Center Square) - An Ohio man charged in connection with a threatening voicemail left for Pennsylvania state Rep. Mark Gillen has been released on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in Berks County Court next month, according to court documents.

According to a police affidavit, part of the voicemail left by a male caller on the morning of Dec. 17, stated " ... if Pennsylvania thinks they're going to come after our guns," followed by a pair of words that included an obscenity, followed by " ... blood will roll. You get it?"

Kenneth D. Yochum, 58, of Hamilton County, Ohio, was ordered held for court after a preliminary hearing Monday before Magisterial District Judge David Yoch. Yochum faces charges of terroristic threats, threats and other improper influence in official and political matters, and harassment. All are misdemeanors.

People close to the case said one of the court proceedings over the winter was put off because of a snowstorm.

The threat comes to light following a string of incidents of political violence in Pennsylvania and elsewhere over the last couple of years.

Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was slightly wounded in the ear by a shooter at an outdoor rally in Butler County in July, 2024. About nine months later - hours after Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family had carried out an observance of the Jewish Passover holiday - they escaped a middle-of-the-night firebomb attack on the Governor's Mansion in Harrisburg.

In June, Minnesota House of Representatives member and former speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered at their home. In September, conservative leader and Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot to death at an outdoor event in Utah.

According to the police affidavit, the call to Gillen's district office in Cumru Township, Berks County, in December came from a blocked phone number. An investigation that included gaining access to phone company records was conducted, the affidavit said, and a few days later police in Ohio conducted an interview that helped lead to the charges.

Gillen, a Republican, has represented part of Berks County in the state House for 15 years. He has been minority chairman of the House Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee for more than three years. He said he could not think of any particular piece of gun-related legislation that stirred up controversy in the days before the threat was received.

Gillen currently is running for re-election to another two-year term and has a Republican challenger in next month's primary.

In an interview Tuesday, Gillen said it appeared the incident had no relation to the current campaign. He said a "toxic atmosphere" exists in modern politics.

"It is getting increasingly visceral out there and the noise level is so loud," Gillen said. Because of inflammatory political speech, he said, the "licensing of personal attacks has become broad and pervasive."