Ohio man pleads guilty in bomb threat at reproductive health clinic

An Ohio man has pleaded guilty to making bomb threats at a local reproductive health clinic in April.

According to a Department of Justice statement on Tuesday, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Brime, of Columbus, Ohio, admitted to threatening to kill a patient whom he thought was seeking an abortion and threatening to bomb the clinic.

Authorities said that Brime made two separate calls into a local reproductive clinic on April 11.

In the first call, Brime told the clinic’s staff, “My girlfriend is a patient there and I’m going to bring the heat. If she kills my baby, I’m going to kill her.” 

In his second call, Brime reportedly told clinic staff, “My organization will be bringing a bomb to your facility. I suggest you close your doors.” 

Brime also admitted to violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which makes it a federal crime to threaten the use of force to intimidate anyone receiving or providing reproductive health services and to transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, according to the statement. 

“People should be able to freely access clinics that provide reproductive health services, free from violence and threats of violence,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s civil rights division said in a statement. 

“This defendant threatened to kill a woman because she was seeking reproductive health services and further threatened to bomb the clinic providing those services. This conviction should send a strong message that the Justice Department will hold accountable those who would resort to violence and threats of violence to deny people access to reproductive health clinics in our country.”

Brime, 25, could face up to a total of six years in prison for the charges he pleaded guilty to in the case. Brime was arrested by authorities in September and was indicted by a grand jury. 

Brime currently awaits his sentencing hearing, the statement noted.