A Vinalhaven man will spend more than two years in prison for making hundreds of threatening phone calls to the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Eric Malmstrom, 40, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to serve 27 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for transmitting threatening interstate communications, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.





Malmstrom was convicted in August after a one-day jury trial.

Malmstrom was charged last March by the U.S. Secret Service for calls he made to the Swedish Embassy between September 2017 and March 2018. Malmstrom made hundreds of phone calls to the embassy, making violent threats against embassy employees. When no one answered after hours, Malmstrom often left voicemails, according to the criminal complaint filed by the Secret Service.

On several occasions, Malmstrom threatened to slit an employee’s throat. In October 2017, Malmstrom said he wanted to use a knife to assault Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf.

During sentencing, Judge D. Brock Hornby said the offenses were “a despicable set of crimes” that threatened people “with vile mutilation and death,” according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office.

Malmstrom has been held without bail since his arrest. His attorney said he intends to appeal the conviction.