CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Lincoln County man convicted of threatening investigators looking into allegations of voter fraud was sentenced Monday to eight years and one day in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston sentenced James Matheny, 62, on a weapons charge and for assaulting a federal officer.

On Feb. 28, Matheny was involved in a confrontation with an FBI agent and an investigator with the Secretary of State’s office outside his Midkiff home.

“We owe it to our law enforcement officers to do everything we can to protect them on the job,” U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said. “We’ve seen too many tragic, senseless law enforcement deaths in situations just like this: routine encounters that suddenly turn violent.”

The two agents had been interviewing area residents in an investigation that involved two county elected officials.

Last month, former Lincoln County Sheriff Jerry Bowman and ex-county Clerk Donald Whitten received prison terms. Bowman pleaded guilty to conspiring to stuff the primary ballot box while running for circuit clerk in the county’s 2010 Democratic primary, while Whitten pleaded guilty to lying to an investigator.