Jan 29, 2009 6:18 pm US/Mountain
Colorado Man Accused Of Threatening Obama
By P. Solomon Banda, Associated Press Writer
DENVER (AP) ―
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President Barack Obama makes remarks to the press between meetings with House and Senate leaders to discuss the economic stimulus package on Jan. 27, 2009, in Washington, D.C.
Tim Sloan/AFP/Getty Images
A Colorado man has been indicted on charges of threatening to kill President Barack Obama and blow up the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis.
A federal grand jury in Denver handed up the indictment Tuesday against 20-year-old Timothy Ryan Gutierrez of Cortez, in southwestern Colorado.
The U.S. attorney's office said Gutierrez turned himself in at the FBI's Durango office Thursday afternoon and was being held without bond.
He was to appear in court Friday afternoon. Gutierrez had no listed phone number and it was not immediately known if he had an attorney.
"Both threats were taken seriously, and both threats were investigated immediately by the FBI," said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for acting U.S. Attorney Dave Gaouette.
Gutierrez faces one count each of transmission of threats and falsely threatening to use explosives.
It claims Gutierrez e-mailed the FBI's Washington office eight days before Obama's inauguration saying: "I'm going to assassinate the new president of the United States of America. P.S., you have 48 hours to stop it from happening."
The indictment says a second e-mail threatened to blow up the mall with 40 pounds of C4 explosive and TNT planted on seven cars parked outside.
"Good luck thank you and God bless the you know the rest time is wasting," the e-mail read, according to the indictment.
Cortez Police Chief Roy Lane said FBI agents spoke to Gutierrez at his apartment on Jan. 12, the day the indictment says the e-mails were sent. Lane said two Cortez officers accompanied the agents.
Lane said he wasn't familiar with Gutierrez.
"He's a new name to me," he told The Associated Press.
It wasn't immediately clear why Gutierrez wasn't arrested then. Lane referred those questions to federal authorities. Dorschner and FBI spokeswoman Kathy Wright said they could not immediately comment.
Men in Miami and Tampa, Fla., Honolulu, Jackson, Miss., and Omaha, Neb., also face charges in connection with making threats against Obama.
In Denver, a group of men made racist threats against Obama and sparked fears of an assassination plot during the Democratic National Convention in August. Federal authorities said the threats weren't credible, and the men have been charged only with firearms and drug violations.
Just before the election, two skinheads in Tennessee were charged with plotting to behead blacks across the country and assassinate Obama while wearing white top hats and tuxedos.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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