Story ID: 
Texas Pilot Sentenced after Threatening Voicemail
By: Amy Wilder
Caption: Rescinded job offer followed failed alcohol test
Word Count: 560
A pilot who left a threatening voicemail last July after a rescinded job offer at a Florida charter company was sentenced earlier this month to one month in jail and one year of probation, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (DOT OIG).
Patrick White was sentenced on April 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, following a July 2024 criminal complaint and August indictment on a charge of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office brought the charge under Title 18, United States Code, Section 875(c), which criminalizes the use of interstate communications to issue threats to injure another person, stating, “Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”
The 2024 complaint alleged that on July 2, 2024, White left a voicemail for a company employee in which he threatened to kill them. The DOT OIG reported that White made the threat using a cellular phone, which constituted interstate communication.
According to court documents and statements from the DOT OIG, White had interviewed with a Florida-based charter company for a chief pilot position on Feb. 6, 2024, and received a tentative job offer on February 26.
However, the offer was rescinded following his failure to pass a required pre-employment alcohol screening conducted on March 5. His blood alcohol content was reported at 0.04. On March 14, the charter company rescinded White’s job offer in an email, citing the failed alcohol test.
In mid-March, White made harassing phone calls to the charter company’s director of operations for five days before stopping, according to the July 2024 criminal complaint.
The complaint states that White re-initiated contact with the operations director on June 28 and 29, leaving a vaguely threatening voicemail and a series of profanity-laced texts, including one that reportedly said: “I had an epiphany a vision if you will someone that you love is going to die in the next 14 days…I would start praying if I was you,” and another said to plead, “I need you to retract all those statements to the FAA and just say I miss spoke [sic] because you did Or this is going to get really ugly come tomorrow.”
July 2, 2024: White allegedly left a voicemail containing a direct and explicit threat to kill the victim, saying he was “coming after you,” and “you know what I’m being evicted from my place of residence because of…your actions.” He stated he would come to the victim’s location to kill him. 
The victim reported the threatening voicemails and texts to both the FAA and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in Florida. These threats were deemed serious enough to prompt a criminal complaint and request for an arrest warrant filed in federal court. White was arrested and posted $25,000 bail a little over a week later.
The April 8 sentencing follows several months of legal proceedings. A grand jury handed down the indictment on August 13, and the case was prosecuted in federal court. White’s sentence includes a month-long jail term, followed by probation, and a $25 special assessment.