Lance Armstrong fan pleads guilty to emailing threats

A 60-year-old Utah man has pleaded guilty to sending an email threat to the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency during its prosecution of Lance Armstrong.

Robert Hutchins faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for interstate communications involving a threat. The Associated Press reported he will avoid jail time if the judge accepts a plea bargain offered by prosecutors.

On Aug. 23, 2012 -- after Armstrong announced he would not fight USADA’s charges -- Hutchins sent an email to the USADA Chief Executive Travis Tygart stating: “Hope you have body guards and bullet proof vest, your (sic) a dead man ...”

The message also contained a string of expletives with the message: “You just don’t know what you’ve done.”

The Utah case follows a similar incident in which a Florida man pleaded guilty for emailing threats to Tygart.

Hutchins is scheduled for sentencing in early February of next year.

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