Wisconsin man who threatened the governor sentenced to prision

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By Steve Schuster

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The Madison woodworker who threatened Governor Tony Evers and several others was sentenced to a year in prison after accepting a plea deal Thursday.

Michael A. Yaker previously pleaded guilty to a federal charge in March after threats were made to a Dane County government official last May.

Under the terms of the deal, Yaker will be released earlier on supervision and required to get mental health treatment, the Associated Press reported earlier this week.

As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal A Wisconsin ax maker charged with making a threat against Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and several Dane County officials pleaded guilty to a lesser offense back in March.

According to the initial plea deal, Michael A. Yaker of Windsor, Wis. plead guilty for making a threat against a county official, according to court documents.

According to the Federal criminal complaint obtained by the Wisconsin Law Journal, Yaker had sent emails and Facebook messages threatening to harm Gov. Evers as well as Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett, Madison Police Detective Greg Esser, Dane County Executive Joe Parisi, The Dane County Board, and then-Highway Commissioner Gerald Mandli.

On the Ides of March, Federal prosecutors filed an 8 count superseding indictment charging Yaker with making threats. The initial two count indictment filed back in November of 2022 charged Yaker with using electronic communications threatening to injure a Wisconsin citizen, for the purpose of issuing threats and knowingly transmitting in interstate commerce communications containing threats to
injure the person of another.

As a part of the plea agreement, seven out of eight counts of the superseding indictment were dismissed, including the charges for making multiple threats against Gov. Evers.

Yaker who has been known to carry an ax, believed he would be receiving the contract to build a park shelter at Scheidegger Forest County Park.

However, Yaker who also works as a timber framer did not receive the contract and had disputes with several Dane County Officials after losing the bid, according to the criminal compliant.

In the threatening email to Gov. Evers, Yakers wrote “I’d like to have my hands around his throat … I’d like to bash his head against a concrete wall … I’d like to have his blood on my hands … see his blood drain down the gutter.”

In a threatening Facebook post about Gov. Walker, Yaker wrote, “Dead man walking … My purpose, my passion is to destroy the state of Wisconsin … it’s a good day to die … Tony Evers is a marked man.”

The threats follow the attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer.