JACKSONVILLE — A 27-year-old Crescent City man has been indicted on two federal counts of threatening to kill the President of the United States after allegedly sending separate messages to whitehouse.gov vowing to blow up the White House and murder the president, U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced.
According to the indictment, Ryan Brown transmitted an online message to whitehouse.gov on April 16 directed at the President in which he threatened to blow up the White House in one week’s time. Brown then sent a second message on May 25 stating, in part, that he would “kill the President in cold blood.”
Brown faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison if convicted on both counts. The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kelli Swaney in the Middle District of Florida.
The indictment is the latest in a string of federal threat-to-kill-the-president prosecutions across the country. Under 18 U.S.C. § 871, knowingly and willfully making a threat against the president is a federal felony carrying up to five years per count.
Kehoe’s office emphasized that an indictment is merely a formal charge and that every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. No court date for Brown’s next appearance has been publicly announced.