SEYMOUR – A 32-year-old Seymour resident was sentenced Feb. 27 to 80 months in federal prison after calling for an FBI agent and the agent’s spouse to be burned to death in their South Carolina home. 

The sentence came from a court agreement that saw the defendant, Robert Tardy, plead guilty to cyberstalking, lying to the FBI, and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors said Tardy, under the user names “connecticut12345” and “slimybanana,” sent messages in anti-government and anti-police groups on Kik and Telegram calling for violence against the FBI agent and the agent’s family. 

Tardy discussed the idea of throwing a Molotov cocktail in the FBI’s agent’s house to kill the family while they slept. 

Tardy also posted a map showing exactly where the FBI agent lived. He posted a photo of the FBI agent’s spouse, and discussed torturing them for days, according to court documents.

He then lied to the FBI agents investigating his crimes, and tried to alter or destroy his cell phone to thwart the investigation, according to court documents.

“The work of a law enforcement agent is difficult enough without the undue burden of threats against their safety and the safety of their family,” South Carolina U.S. Attorney Bryan Stirling said in a press release.

Separately, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Tardy also talked anonymously online about drugging and raping women in his community, and shared images of his friends’ children while talking about child sexual abuse.

Tardy wrote a letter to his victims and to the court apologizing for his crimes, saying he was ashamed for what he had done.

Tardy is a 2011 graduate of Seymour High School. He served in the U.S. Marines, and was honorably discharged in 2017 before becoming a corrections officer, according to court documents.

He said he dealt with multiple traumatic events over his life that eventually caused mental health problems.

“Unfortunately, in that mental state, I wanted to find people who would listen to my anger towards the world,” he wrote in a letter to his victims. “I was so angry without knowing the damage I would cause by venting “anonymously” on the Internet. It was never my intention to have included your family in a mental break.”

Tardy said he is on medication and receiving therapy for his mental health issues, which include PTSD and bi-polar disorder.