Billings man sentenced to 30 months in prison after threatening to kill Tester

A Billings man who threatened to kill U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, and his family last spring was sentenced Wednesday to nearly three years in prison.

Anthony James Cross, 30, will have to spend 30 months in prison, then undergo three years of supervised release, after he pleaded guilty in January to threatening to injure and murder a U.S. senator. He was sentenced in federal court in Billings.

As part of a plea agreement with the government, Cross had a charge of threatening the president dismissed, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Montana.

Cross was indicted last September about five months after he made the threats. On April 17, 2023, he left voicemails with Tester’s office in which he said he would “kill every single one of your (expletive) family members” and they would die a “horrendous death.”

About a week later, Google contacted the FBI about comments he made on YouTube videos they deemed to be threats, which included the threat to kill President Joe Biden and a comment about “hunting down and killing any trans” people in major cities.

He was already known to police in Billings because of prior charges including assault with a weapon and a standoff with Billings police in 2019. Investigators connected the phone number that left the voicemails with Tester’s office with Cross based on those prior incidents, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Last August, a Kalispell man was also sentenced to nearly three years for also  threatening to kill Tester in a phone call.