A man from the small northeast Iowa town of La Motte has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for having an unregistered rifle and sending threatening text messages to his ex-girlfriend.
Court documents indicate 34-year-old Steven Michael Conroy sent the threatening texts in July of last year after a child support hearing. Conroy sent his ex-girlfriend a photo of himself with a gun and wrote that he intended to “pay the child support in lead and flesh.” Conroy also sent a text questioning the quality of the bullet-proof vest worn by a person he described as her “bodyguard police officer.”
During a search of Conroy’s home two days later, officers found several guns, including the unregistered short-barreled rifle that had a homemade silencer attached to it.
Conroy pleaded guilty to one count of possession of an unregistered firearm and one count of transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce. According to the U.S. Justice Department, the message about the policeman’s body armor was sent as Conroy was driving toward his ex-girlfriend’s home in Minnesota.