A Tucson man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to commit mass bombings at the White House and around the Washington, D.C. area, federal authorities said Thursday.
Jacob Aaron Hicks, 46, was arrested Wednesday and charged by criminal complaint with making an interstate threat to injure. Hicks is accused of making the threats by email on Sept. 23.
He made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday.
“We must take threats of violence like this one seriously,” United States Attorney Timothy Courchaine said in a news release. “I am grateful to our local news station for referring this threat to law enforcement, and to the FBI for addressing the situation quickly, professionally, and with the level of commitment it required.”
According to the criminal complaint, Hicks emailed news station KGUN9 on Sept. 23, claiming that there would be an imminent bomb strike against the White House and other locations in Washington, D.C.
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The email stated: "Be advised. In 12 hours, there'll be a strike against the White House. There's bombs all around Washington D.C. This is not a joke. Be advised. You Americans will pay. Allah, to Allah."
The news station notified law enforcement, which began an investigation and identified Hicks as the alleged sender of the email.
Law enforcement officials said additional unsent email drafts from the same email account were found and tied to Hicks. The draft emails, also dated Sept. 23, were addressed to other news agencies and contained similar threats to the White House and surrounding areas, the complaint said.
"In 15 minutes, there will be an attack on the White House, coming from all sides," read one draft, according to a federal criminal complaint in the case. The complaint said a second draft email said, "there will be an attack on the White House, and surrounding bombs had been in very important buildings in Washington DC."
The complaint also detailed a text message found by agents that they say was sent by Hicks on Sept. 2 to a Tucson-based phone number. The message read: "Anthrax is going to be delivered to destroy Tucson I have C4 for federal building and bombing on 9-11-2026 05:00am."
Database checks by investigators revealed that while living in New York, Hicks made similar threats against the Wayne County Department of Social Services.
Investigators in Wayne County went to Hicks' address and advised him that charges would be pursued if any further contact or statements were made and the severity of the threats could be deemed terroristic in nature, the federal complaint said.
