Mississippi Man Pleads Guilty to Threatening CDC Director

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, answers questions during a Senate committee hearing in Washington on Jan. 11, 2022. Greg Nash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

A Mississippi man pleaded guilty on Monday to threatening the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) director.

Robert Wiser Bates, 39, of Ridgeland, Mississippi, left hostile voicemails for CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in which he threatened to kill her, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Mississippi.