A West Virginia man who admitted threatening to kill Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-diseases expert, pleaded guilty to a federal offense Monday and could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland said.

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       Thomas P. Connally, 56, of Snowshoe, W.Va., used an anonymous account from a provider of secure, encrypted email services to send messages to Fauci, threatening him and members of his family, prosecutors said. One of the emails described by prosecutors said Fauci, now one of President Biden’s chief medical advisers, would be “dragged into the street” along with his loved ones, and “beaten to death, and set on fire.”

       The threats occurred from Dec. 28, 2020, to July, according to prosecutors.

       Maryland man charged with threatening Anthony S. Fauci

       As part of a plea deal, the U.S. attorney’s office said, Connally also admitted threatening Francis Collins, who was director of the National Institutes of Health at the time, and Rachel Levine, a former Pennsylvania secretary of health who is now a top official of the Department of Health and Human Services. Connally also admitted threatening a public health official in Massachusetts, the office said.

       Prosecutors said Connally, who pleaded guilty to a single charge of making threats against a federal official, was angry about coronavirus vaccine mandates. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 4 in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md.