He openly advocated the death of the then elected president Donald Trump, who ends up as a “murderer” and threatened to shoot the possible 47 commander in chief shortly after the elections, prosecutors say.
Those words, which remain in Facebook publications, are at the center of a federal jury accusation. On Tuesday, the resident of Yucca Valley, Thomas Eugene Strevel, 73, declared himself innocent of three serious crimes to make threats.
The San Bernardino County man was arrested on Monday just before 11 am by the United States sheriffs and processed the next day within the Central District Court in Riverside.
It is on a bail of $ 10,000 and is expected to return to court on July 28. Strevel could turn up to 15 years in prison if he declares himself guilty of all charges.
“This defendant is accused of threatening the life of our president, a man who has already survived two upset attempts in his life,” said Us Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi in a statement. “The Department of Justice takes these threats with maximum gravity and will process this crime to the greater extent of the law.”
A number that appears in Strevel was not answered, and no lawyer was included for him in judicial documents.
His actions were detailed in an accusation of Grand Jury as of May 29 that was revealed on Tuesday.
Strevel published a variety of threats in the days after Trump's electoral victory in November, according to The Department of Justice.
“[T]Rump is a dead man who walks for the moment until a patriot like me blows his [expletive] Brains in the very close future, ”Streavel published on November 6, according to judicial documents.
Six days later, Strevel published on Facebook that he was “willing to make the United States great and blow his [expletive] Brain comes out, ”says the accusation.
There were similar Facebook diatribes on November 19 and 28.
In the previous case, he wrote: “Let me put a right bullet among the ears of its elected president … That is my purpose of living,” according to the accusation.
He later published: “I am praying for a successful murder of its president -elect.” Then he added: “The mission of my life is to kill the loser without value [expletive] And my mission begins tonight, so look at yourself Trump [sic]You are a dead man [expletive] And I am your murderer, ”shows the judicial documents.
Strevel publications extend before the elections, when on October 15 he wrote: “Today is the perfect day to fly their brains and I would love to be the one who pressed the trigger.”
The secret service is also investigating the matter.
“The type of rhetoric and threats made by this defendant are similar to those that led to an attempt to life of the president last year,” said Atty of the United States. Bill essayli. “There is no place for political violence or threats of violence in the United States.”
Trump was injured in a shooting in a campaign demonstration in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. The shooting left a dead rally and two critically injured, and the secret service killed the unidentified armed man, according to that agency.
In the Trump's West Palm Beach Golf course, Florida, on September 15, a secret service agent that reaches area one or two holes ahead of him saw the snout of an AK-47-style weapon that pointed out of the tree line in the perimeter of the field.
Trump was unharmed in the second attempt of his life in two months.
