SHREVEPORT, La. –United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Shreveport man pleaded guilty to calling a Washington, D.C., pizzeria and threating to shoot those there.
Yusif Lee Jones, 52, of Shreveport, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. to one count of interstate threatening communications. According to testimony at the guilty plea, on December 7, 2016, three days after the shooting at the Comet Ping Pong pizza shop in Washington, D.C., which was reported on by the national news media and generally referred to as “Pizzagate,” Jones called the Besta Pizza shop in Washington, D.C., and said he was trying to “save the kids” and threatened to “shoot everyone in the place.” Further investigation by the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI traced the call to Jones in Shreveport. Jones admitted to making the threatening call and was arrested.
Jones faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution and a $250,000 fine. A sentencing date of April 12, 2017 was set.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Flanagan is prosecuting the case.