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Weird golf news of the week: Country club bartender charged for threatening to poison John Boehner

January 14, 2015

A former bartender at Weatherington Country Club, Michael Robert Hoyt, was recently indicted for threatening to murder House Speaker John Boehner, according to a report by WCPO Cincinnati. The FBI says part of that plan included poisoning Boehner's drink at the private club in Butler County (Ohio).

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These revelations all came about after Hoyt called police shortly after being fired from the club. When authorities visited his house, "Hoyt told the officer he was Jesus Christ and he was going to kill Boehner because Boehner was mean to him at the country club and because Boehner is responsible for Ebola," United States Capitol Police (USCP) Special Agent Christopher M. Desrosiers said. "Hoyt advised he had a loaded Beretta .380 automatic and he was going to shoot Boehner and take off."

Hoyt voluntarily checked into a psychiatric ward, where he said he believed Boehner and other members of the club had gotten him fired. Meanwhile, officers found ammunition, notebooks with writings on Boehner and Ebola, and lists of club members in his home, as well as an assault rifle at his mother's house. That was more than enough for the FBI to indict him for posing a "current and ongoing credible threat" to Boehner.

Boehner told the FBI he remembers Hoyt, but no negative interactions with him. Hoyt served Boehner for five years at the club. He is one of three people charged with threatening to kill the congressman in the past year.

After being charged, Hoyt was taken to the Federal Medical Center, a prison in Massachusetts where he was to be evaluated for no more than 45 days. He can be relocated after that period and he faces a possible sentence of 30 years in federal prison.