WEST CHESTER – Jurors hearing the case of a Lancaster County man accused of threatening to gun down co-workers at a Honey Brook manufacturing plant at Christmastime needed just 35 minutes to return with a verdict Wednesday.

The panel of eight men and four women found Gregory Lee Kautz guilty of one count of terroristic threats, a first-degree misdemeanor, stemming from incidents that played out over several weeks in October and November 2011. They began their deliberations at 10:30 a.m. and announced they had a verdict at 11:05 a.m.

Kautz, 45, of Ephrata, left Common Pleas Senior Judge Ronald Nagle’s courtroom with his attorney and family members without speaking, after Nagle set his sentencing date for Jan. 16. The threats charge carries with it a possible maximum sentence of 2½ to five years in state prison.