Bartender threatened to kill John Boehner, indictment says

A bartender who used to serve House Speaker John A. Boehner — and, according to court papers, claimed to be Jesus and said Boehner was responsible for Ebola — has been indicted on suspicion of threatening to kill the lawmaker.

Officials became involved Oct. 29, when Michael Hoyt called 911 and police were dispatched to his home, according to a criminal complaint.

Hoyt told police that he’d been fired from his bartending job at Wetherington Golf and Country Club outside Cincinnati days earlier, before he’d been able to put something in Boehner’s drink, the complaint said. Boehner is a member of the club, it said.

According to the complaint, he told police that he had a loaded .380 Beretta automatic handgun and was “going to shoot Boehner and take off.” Then he volunteered to be taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, it said.

He was placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold, and police recovered the Beretta from his home, the complaint said.

A warrant for Hoyt’s arrest was issued Nov. 6.

On Dec. 16, U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen L. Litkovitz ordered that Hoyt be taken to FMC Devens, a federal medical center in Middlesex County, Mass., and undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

A grand jury indicted him last Wednesday, charging that he threatened to murder a United States official with the intent to impede, intimidate, interfere with and retaliate against that official.

“Speaker Boehner is aware of this situation and sincerely thanks the FBI, the Capitol Police and local authorities in Ohio for their efforts,” Michael Steel, a spokesman for the Ohio Republican, told the Los Angeles Times.

As of Tuesday, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website, Hoyt was being held at FMC Devens. His release date was listed as “unknown.”

Times staff writer Michael A. Memoli in Washington contributed to this report.

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