A Tucson man has been arrested on an accusation 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,” said United States Attorney Timothy Courchaine 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 a local Tucson news station on Sept. 23, claiming that there would be an imminent bomb strike against the White House and other locations in Washington, D.C. The news station notified law enforcement, which began an investigation and identified Hicks as the alleged sender of the email, the news release said.
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Law enforcement officials found additional unsent email drafts from the same email account 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 release said.
