A man in Virginia was arrested last week and is now facing federal charges after he allegedly made death threats against Vice President Kamala Harris and other public figures like President Joe Biden and FBI Director Christopher Wray, according to federal court documents.
Frank Lucio Carillo, 66, is accused of posting over 4,000 comments on the right-wing social media platform GETTR, founded by Trump advisor Jason Miller, in which he also threatened Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, an FBI special agent said in a complaint filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, NPR reported.
“Kamala Harris needs to be put on fire alive I will do it personally if no one else does it I want her to suffer a slow agonizing death,” Carillo allegedly said in a social media post flagged by the FBI, The Independent reported. Carillo, whose first court appearance was scheduled for Monday, mentioned the presumptive Democratic nominee 19 times on the account according to the complaint — and several times in the days after Biden announced he was exiting the presidential race.
The account, “joemadarasts1,” was first discovered after Carillo allegedly made threats to the Maricopa County, Arizona, Recorder’s office. That office reported the threats to the FBI’s Arizona office, which then contacted Google and GETTR to track down IP addresses, email addresses, and location history attached to Carillo’s accounts and devices.
In one online post, Carillo allegedly wrote: “I HAVE MY AR-15 LOCKED AND LOADED.”
The 66 year old has been charged with one count of violating the U.S. Code that states that it’s illegal to “knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President,” NPR reported. When the FBI searched Cariollo’s home in Winchester, Virginia, last Friday, agents found a RF-15 rifle and a 9 mm handgun.
“Open political discourse is a cornerstone of our American experience,” U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said in a staement. “We can disagree. We can argue and we can debate. However, when those disagreements cross the line to threats of violence, law enforcement must step in.”
During the search of his home, the FBI said Carillo asserted that the search was “ridiculous,” adding: “I guess I’m gonna need a lawyer.”