Man to plead guilty to harassing Palin attorney

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man has agreed to plead guilty to a charge that he harassed an attorney for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, actions that authorities said followed his similar goading of Palin herself, according to court documents filed on Monday.

Shawn Christy, 20, is charged with a single federal count of making harassing interstate phone calls, an offense that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

He and his father, Craig, are accused of making hundreds of hostile telephone calls to Fairbanks, Alaska, attorney John Tiemessen, who represents the Palin family, and his colleagues.

Attorneys for Shawn Christy, who is in jail in Anchorage on the charge, submitted a change-of-plea motion in U.S. District Court on Monday.

"Defendant, Shawn Richard Christy, by and through counsel ... notifies this court that he intends to plead guilty," the filing stated.

Representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office and Shawn Christy's lawyers could not be reached for comment.

Shawn Christy is scheduled to enter his guilty plea officially and be sentenced on December 1, the court papers state.

A plea agreement is also expected from Craig Christy, according to court papers filed earlier this month.

Both men were already the subject of restraining orders issued by an Alaska state court over repeated telephone calls that authorities say the two made to Palin's parents and a long-time Palin friend, Kristan Cole.

Palin first won a restraining order against Shawn Christy last year. In a court hearing this year, she described him as being obsessed with her and said he made sexual threats.

In May, the state court issued a new restraining order against Shawn Christy and a similar order against Craig Christy over calls he had made to the Palin camp.

The two men from McAdoo, Pennsylvania, were ar! rested i n August in their home state and later sent to Anchorage, Alaska, to face charges over the calls made to Palin's attorney.

Those calls were laced with profanities, and Shawn Christy also used repeated anti-Semitic slurs, an affidavit filed in the case said.

A psychiatric report prepared for the U.S. Secret Service and submitted in state court said Shawn Christy was intelligent but suffered from delusions that made him believe he was entitled to contacts with powerful people.

(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Peter Bohan)