Arizona man pleads guilty over threatening to kill FBI agents, politicians
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on August 15, 2024
(NEW YORK) — An Arizona man pleaded guilty to making threats against federal officials on Tuesday, having repeatedly urged fellow social media users to shoot FBI agents and attack politicians, authorities said.
Michael Lee Tomasi, 37, of Rio Verde, Arizona, leveled a series of threats against FBI agents, elected officials and the judge overseeing right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones’ defamation case, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Tomasi posted the graphic threats over a more than two-year period between May 2021 and November of 2023, primarily on the social media platform ‘www.patriots.win‘, which describes itself as the “community of choice for President Donald J. Trump.”
Tomasi — who was living in Colorado and Arizona at the time of the offenses — pleaded guilty to making threats against federal officials, per a Department of Justice press release. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 23, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Among the offenses detailed in the original indictment were a November 2021 threat to sexually assault a congresswoman.
Tomasi also called for the execution of another member of Congress in March 2022, declaring: “He’s one of them. Kill every corrupt politician.”
The defendant repeatedly threatened FBI agents, writing in November 2021: “FBI has no legal ability to enforce anything. Shoot on site.” In an August 2023 post, Tomasi called for “instant death” for FBI agents. “Shoot the FBI first ask questions later,” he wrote. “They are terrorists that deserve nothing but to be shot on site.”
Tomasi also posted a video of him dancing with two guns in a post titled, “My Let’s Go Brandon dance,” a reference to a derogatory meme about President Joe Biden.
In a Department of Justice press release, U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino for the District of Arizona said the “disgruntled defendant” was “prepared to carry out his threats: when arrested he had a loaded handgun in his vehicle, as well as other firearms and body armor in his home.”
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