Man sentenced after threats to county leader
Accused Maricopa County supervisor of election conspiracies
A Phoenix man was sentenced to three years of probation after threatening to poison a Maricopa County official in relation to the 2022 election, according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
Ryan Stuart Hadland, 45, was charged with a misdemeanor in June. Prosecutors said he threatened to physically harm Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates in an email sent on Nov. 12, 2022 — four days after the midterm election, according to the charging document.
Gates, who represents a politically purple area spanning from north-central Phoenix to Anthem and New River, announced last year that he would not seek reelection in 2024.
Gates and other members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors faced false allegations of election fraud after the 2020 and 2022 elections. Gates has stated publicly that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of election-related harassment.
“As a society, we should neither normalize nor tolerate threats of violence against one another,” Gates said Monday, thanking prosecutors and law enforcement for investigating threats against election officials.
Hadland is one of several individuals to be charged by state and federal officials for threatening Maricopa County leaders after the 2022 election. Pima County Superior Court Judge Scott McDonald also ordered Hadland to obtain mental health services and prohibited him from contacting Gates or his family.
The case was assigned to Pima County Superior Court Judge Scott McDonald in June 2023.
Attorney General Kris Mayes said she would continue to prosecute “those who seek to undermine our democracy through intimidation and violence.”
“Threats of violence against public servants are not only criminal acts, they are direct attacks on the principles of our democracy,” Mayes said in a statement on Monday.
Hadland threatened to poison Gates, referred to election conspiracies
Hadland’s email to Gates contained multiple references to election conspiracies.
He accused Gates of being part of “the corrupt Democrat party,” “cheating” the voting system and “betraying” his country.
“It’s obvious you’ve made my vote not count by offsetting it with multiple fraudulent Democratic ballots counting as votes instead,” Hadland wrote.
Gates is a Republican. While Maricopa County experienced some Election Day printer problems during the November
2022 election, an independent review found no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing. Some of the county’s older printers simply struggled to print ballots dark enough to be read by on-site tabulators because of the length and thickness of midterm ballots, according to the independent review.
Hadland threatened to poison Gates. He said poison would “lead to certain death” and could be “strategically placed in every aspect of your routine life.”
“I promise you, you are about to be poisoned multiple times over again to make sure your death, or corpse, is carried out,” he wrote.
Sasha Hupka covers county government and election administration for The Arizona Republic. Do you have a tip to share on elections, voting or threats against government officials? Reach her at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or Threads: @sashahupkasnaps.