A 26-year-old Ohio man was in custody after threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Randy Fine and his family, according to the congressman and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The FBI determined there was probable cause to arrest Alex Miller of Columbus after investigators tracked his identity to an email address that sent a message with a threat involving “hanging” Fine’s head “from the rooftops of the White House.”
Miller’s alleged threats, spelled out in the FBI complaint, were made last week, on primary election day, with the email subject line, “Can’t wait to snipe your head off your shoulders!! :)”
“I unfortunately have learned what the difference is between a nasty message and a death threat, and this clearly was a death threat,” Fine told Fox News, adding that he does not know Miller’s motive or anything about him.
According to Fine, this is the fourth person arrested for making death threats to him in the past 10 years.
“If they think this will make me afraid, they are wrong. There is no place in our political system for this. And those who make these threats — whether to a Republican or Democrat — will go to prison for a very long time,” Fine posted on social media Tuesday.
The FBI, Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Capitol Police, and U.S. Secret Service investigated the threats, according to Fine’s press release.
The maximum possible sentence for Miller would be five years, according to the arrest announcement.
This story is courtesy of Florida Phoenix.
Florida Phoenix is a nonprofit news site, free of advertising and free to readers, covering state government and politics with a staff of five journalists located at the Florida Press Center in downtown Tallahassee. Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
Sign up for the Watermark Out News eNewsletter and follow us for more:
BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok | Threads | YouTube
