Boca manicurist who threatened Donald Trump after 'watching too much MSNBC' sent to prison

A South Florida woman with no criminal history will spend a year in federal prison for threatening to kill Donald Trump — a crime her attorney blamed on too much exposure to cable news.

WEST PALM BEACH — A 60-year-old manicurist with no criminal history will spend a year in federal prison for threatening to kill President-elect Donald Trump — a crime her attorney blamed on exposure to too much cable news.

Martha Jane Schoenfeld left voicemails in June threatening to detonate bombs at two of Trump's properties in Florida and Nevada. In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors recommended she be sentenced to one year of probation in lieu of prison.

Schoenfeld and her attorney agreed. Trump, notified of the plea bargain like all federal crime victims are supposed to be, did too.

The judge did not.

U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal took the rare step Tuesday of exceeding prosecutors' recommended penalty. Made wary by the two assassination attempts on Trump that followed Schoenfeld's arrest, he sentenced the Boca Raton woman to 13 months in federal prison instead.

Boca Raton manicurist denied, then admitted, making Trump bomb threats

Schoenfeld apologized Tuesday for the bomb threats, which she said she had neither the means nor the desire to carry out. According to prosecutors, Schoenfeld made the threats in voicemails to the Trump International Golf Club in suburban West Palm Beach and Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on June 6.

"There is a bomb I left on the site," she said in one. "Hopefully you will get everyone evacuated, except for Trump."

Members of the Secret Service traced the call back to Schoenfeld, a wife and mother of two adult children, within hours. A federal agent and Boca Raton police officer arrived at her condominium the same day, and she invited them inside.

Schoenfeld initially denied knowing about the bomb threat but backtracked when told that investigators could trace where the call came from.

Investigators learned of a second bomb threat made to the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas shortly after departing from Schoenfeld's home. The Secret Service agent called Schoenfeld, who again denied knowing about the threat before admitting that she had made it.

She added that she left a threatening voicemail with U.S. Sen Marco Rubio of Florida around the same time, an admission which did not culminate in a separate charge.

Arrested shortly thereafter, Schoenfeld made her first appearance in federal court on July 12 — one day before the first failed assassination attempt on Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Faced with the possibility of 20 years in federal prison, Schoenfeld pleaded guilty to one of two threat-related charges in September — forgoing her right to a trial by jury but ensuring that prosecutors would recommend she be spared from prison.

"This was a lady in a condo that was watching too much MSNBC and got carried away," her defense attorney Mark McMann said Wednesday. "We agreed the probation and the embarrassment was enough. She's been through enough."

McMann added that the probation recommendation was even green-lighted by the Secret Service and Trump. Under the federal Victims' Rights and Restitution Act, prosecutors have an obligation to inform victims or their representatives of any plea bargain, as well as their right to appear in court.

Neither Trump nor his representative attended Tuesday's sentencing hearing, McMann said.

McMann said the hearing was the third time in his 35-year career that he's seen a judge sentence a defendant to more time in prison than prosecutors recommended. He attributed the surprise outcome to a combination of factors, including the heightened rhetoric about Trump and the two assassination attempts.

"It was just an environment where the judge didn't want to be too lenient," he said.

Schoenfeld, free on a $25,000 bond, must surrender herself back into federal custody by Jan. 15. With good gain time, McMann said she may be able to shave 60 days off of her 13-month sentence.

Once she is released, she must complete a year of probation.