A man in Chicago in the suburbs has been arrested for “threatening to commit violence” during the upcoming police inauguration, which is accused of saying in a voice mail that he ” [expletive] Democrat “stepping on the White House lawn, according to a criminal charge.
Louis Capriotti, a 45-year-old man from Chicago Heights, is being charged with transmitting a threat in trade between states, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois has announced.
Capriotti was arrested near his home on Tuesday morning and would appear in court at 3:30 p.m., according to officials.
The criminal complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court in Chicago, alleges that Capriotti said in a Dec. 29 ballot to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey that if some people ‘think that Joe Biden’s the Bible lie down and walk in it [expletive] White House on January 20, they are unhappy [expletive] wrong. ”
‘We will [expletive] White House and we will kill any people [expletive] Democrat on the [expletive] lawn, ”reads the complaint.
According to the complaint, between 3 October 2019 and 29 January 2020 and again from February to December, Capriotti left several “disturbing, anonymous messages” on the voting systems of several members of Congress. Authorities also believe he left similar messages from another number between 2017 and 2019.
The alleged ‘messages in almost every case included swear words, along with derogatory remarks about the race, religion, political affiliation or physical appearance of certain members and others,’ the complaint reads.
Officials said the FBI interviewed Capriotti in February 2020, and admitted that he called and left voicemails, but said he “did not mean any bad will”. They told him to stop making such calls, but Capriotti continued to leave such voicemails in the months that followed.
In one of the messages left in November, the caller referred to himself as a nine-year-old Marine, “active service” and said he had “killed” a number of “terrorists” in previous wars and that he would “continue to to kill them, because that’s what I’m trained to do. ”The complainant claims that he also said that some big news would soon disappear ‘in the next few weeks’ and that certain individuals ‘would be surprised’ which will be revealed. ‘
“Our office takes the safety of our civil servants very seriously,” U.S. Attorney John Lausch said in a statement. “Persons who exceed the freedom of speech by making illegal threats will be held accountable.”
It was not immediately clear whether Capriotti had a lawyer.
The announcement of the arrest comes less than a week after thousands violated the U.S. Capitol in a violent, deadly riot. The FBI warned of more unrest ahead of Inauguration Day.