WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - A 62-year-old man who was accused of threatening to kill Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple over the city's mask mandate in 2020 has been sentenced to probation. 

The Sedgwick County district attorney's office said Meredith Dowty pleaded no contest to misdemeanor disorderly conduct on Friday. Judge Seth Rundle sentenced him to two years of probation with an underlying jail sentence of 30 days, meaning he could spend a month in jail if he violates probation. 

Prosecutors alleged Dowty sent text messages to a city employee threatening to kill Mayor Whipple because of his role in the passage of a mask mandate to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

He was originally charged with three counts criminal threat. 

“He said he was going to kidnap me and slash my throat and he needed my address because I needed to see the hangman,” Whipple said after the alleged threats were revealed in October 2020.