A Jamestown man faces a federal charge for posting threats to Homeland Security agents on his social media account, including one that also threatened to kill an agent’s children.
“I can’t wait to put a bullet into this guy’s brain, but first his children,” Matthew White, 43, posted on his X account on April 30.
White’s message came as a response to a photo of a federal immigration agent on the social media site, according to a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court.
White appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah McCarthy, who released him from custody with conditions, including a mental health evaluation. The government did not ask for White to be detained.
“Everybody’s entitled to their political views but threats of violence can never be tolerated,” McCarthy said during White’s initial court appearance Tuesday.
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White was charged with transmitting threats in interstate communications, specifically by using the internet.
Homeland Security Investigations agents learned of the threatening social media postings on White’s X account on April 30.
Agents questioned him about the posts on June 4 at a Lakewood restaurant. White confirmed it was his account, according to an affidavit submitted by a Homeland Security Investigations special agent.
White initially denied posting the “bullet into this guy’s brain” message, which came as his response to a video of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest on April 22 at a Virginia courthouse.
White admitted to posting the message after being shown a copy of it, according to the court filing.
“Well, OK, if I wrote that then I didn’t ... mean it,” White told the agents, according to the court filing.
When an agent suggested to White that the post could incite violence, White replied, “I know.” And then he added, “I’m not going to do it. I have no intention of doing it. I’m not a violent person ... it seems like it but I’m not.
“To me, it’s just like saying like ... if you’re going to go beat someone up it doesn’t mean you’re going to actually do it,” he said, according to the court filing.
White has no criminal history.
White allowed law enforcement agents to extract and copy the contents of his phone through forensic computer software.
The extraction revealed other threatening posts.
“Kill them all, ICE is the new age gestapo, hurt them,” one post said.
White also replied to a social media posting from border czar Tom Homan, who had warned the government could prosecute people for harboring those who are in the United States illegally.
“Then understand that if your ICE agents don’t show proof of identity and a signed warrant, we will kill them,” White said in a post replying to Homan’s post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In another post, White said, “Your agents are in danger if they don’t start showing identification and signed warrants. If the Trump administration doesn’t have to follow the laws then neither do the American citizens, game on.”
Patrick Lakamp can be reached at plakamp@buffnews.com
