A Lake Havasu man has been arrested for using Twitter to threaten to kill House Speaker John Boehner.
According to a federal complaint, Ronald Dean Frazier operated a Twitter account with a profile picture of Boehner with crosshairs on his forehead, and posted tweets such as, "Did you know I'm going to kill you," and, "Mission is to kill you."
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Boehner's name is redacted from the federal complaint, but the Twitter handle was something to the effect of @Boehner_Die.
Other threats included, "Get ready to die little whore," and, "[Y]ou will pop your ugly orange head out sometime," according to the complaint filed by the FBI.
An agent with the U.S. Capitol Police found the tweets -- which were posted over a two-week stretch in late April -- and forwarded them to the FBI. The FBI was able to identify Frazier's IP address.
According to the complaint, Frazier told FBI investigators that Boehner was a "fucking jerk" for failing to get bills passed, including bills related to veterans. When investigators asked Frazier which specific veterans bills he was talking about, he said, "All of them, he won't pass anything," according to the complaint.
Frazier told the FBI that he's "unemployed thanks to our government," the documents state.
According to the complaint, Frazier's father overheard this comment during the FBI interview, and told him, "No it's not."
Frazier said he had been drinking when he posted those tweets, although he initially said he was sober, according to the documents. Frazier said it was "kind of a joke actually," the complaint states.
Here's what the FBI agent who filed the complaint wrote about the threats:
Based on your affiant's training and experience, as well as the repeated nature of the threats that spanned multiple days, your affiant believes that the threats were serious and not merely idle talk, careless remarks, or something said jokingly. Your affiant believes that the threats were made under circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to believe that Frazier intended to injure other persons (particularly where such threats involved a public official). Moreover, your affiant knows that such threats sometimes can influence others to act.To add insult to injury, the FBI agents asked Frazier if he had any weapons, and he said no, but he did say he had a marijuana pipe. In addition to a federal charge for making threats to injure someone, Frazier also faces a charge of unlawfully possessing a controlled substance.
The specific tweets mentioned in the federal complaint:
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