A failed political candidate has been indicted on federal charges, including election interference in connection with a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Charges filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque are against unsuccessful Republican nominee Solomon Pea and two

named. alleged

accomplices to felony charges of interfering with federally protected activities, as well as gun-related counts, in connection with the shootings in

December 2022 and January of this year

December and January at the homes of four Democratic officials, including the current state house

House

speaker.

The attacks came amid a wave of threats and intimidation against election workers and government officials across the country after former President Trump and his allies spread false claims about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

The new indictment outlines smartphone communications including text messages from Pea in the days following the November 8, 2022,

election

votes determining the locations of officials’ homes, alleging electoral fraud and calling on conspirators to press ahead with the attack.”

Text messages show Pea howling with indignation as a district committee ratified the results of the midterm elections and his own landslide defeat as a candidate for a seat in the state’s House of Representatives.

Failed GOP candidate arrested in shootings at homes of Democratic officials in New Mexico

It is our duty as statesmen and patriots to prevent the oligarchs from taking over our country,” Pea texted one of the two

supposedly

conspirators, who is not named in the indictment.

Federal charges were also filed against Jose Louise Trujillo and Demetrio Trujillo on charges that they helped Pea obtain vehicles and firearms and that they themselves pulled the trigger to fire bullets into the victims’ homes.

A lawyer for Pea could not be reached immediately. Hi

pea

is being held without bail following his January arrest on charges in state district court, including criminal incitement to commit a shooting at a residence, shooting at a residence, unlawful seizure of a motor vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Police have described Pea as the instigator of a politically motivated conspiracy that led to shootings at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators. No one was injured in the shootings, but in one case, bullets passed through the bedroom of a senator’s 10-year-old daughter.

The shootings began in December. 4, when eight bullets were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa. Days later, the home of State Representative Javier Martnez was targeted. on Dec. On Nov. 11, more than a dozen bullets were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie OMalley, police said. Martnez became the Democratic state house

House

speaker in January.

The latest related shooting, targeting Senator Linda Lopez’s home, occurred in the midnight hour of January 3. Police said more than a dozen shots were fired, including three that Lopez said went through her sleeping 10-year-old’s bedroom. daughter.