CONCORD, NH – The Amherst man who allegedly called six members of Congress and left threatening messages is facing a new charge for allegedly also threatening a New Hampshire state representative.
The grand jury convened at the United States District Court in Concord recently handed up seven felony indictments against Ryder Winegar for calling these elected officials and making the threats.
Winegar, 33, is being detained after Judge Andrea Johnstone deemed him too untrustworthy for pretrial release. Winegar allegedly fled to Brazil on Dec. 21, a day after he found out police were investigating his calls. He returned to the United States on Jan. 11 and gave himself up to FBI agents after he communicated with a defense attorney.
He is charged with six counts of making threats against a federal official, and one count of making a threatening interstate communication for calling the state representative on Dec. 14 “transmit a communication in interstate commerce containing a threat to kidnap and injure the person of another, namely, an e-mail communication to New Hampshire State Representative 1 containing a threat to pull New Hampshire State Representative 1 from his bed and hang him,” according to the indictment.
Winegar, a Navy veteran, was allegedly upset that President Donald Trump has lost the November elections and on Dec. 16 and into Dec. 17, he called three United States Senators and three Congressional Representative, leaving threatening voicemails the included threat to kill the if they did act to overturn the election in Trump’s favor.
Along with the violent threats, and racist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic language, Winegar allegedly also left his name and cell phone number on the voicemails.
When Capitol Police officers went to his home on Juniper Drive to interview him on Dec. 20, Winegar reportedly refused to speak. Within 24 hour, his wife had taken him to the airport and he flew to Brazil, according to court records.
Investigators reportedly found an AR-15 rifle loaded with light armor-piercing ammunition, a loaded shotgun, a loaded 9mm pistol, an unloaded rifle with a scope, several hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and a body armor vest, with clips and Level IV body armor plates, according to Johnstone’s order.
“When considered alongside the defendant’s violent threats against Members of Congress, the presence of those items in his home is relevant to the court’s assessment of dangerousness and weighs in favor of detention,” Johnstone wrote.
Winegar described himself as a stay-at-home dad who manages the family rental properties in Manchester when questioned by federal pretrial services investigators.
