A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employee in New Hampshire has been charged with threatening to kill President Donald Trump, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Dean DelleChiaie, a 35-year-old mechanical engineering contractor from Nashua, was arrested Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire.
Prosecutors said that late last month, DelleChiaie sent a death threat to the White House from his personal email account, allegedly identifying himself and stating he planned to “neutralize” or “kill” the president.
The email was sent roughly three months after DelleChiaie allegedly began using his government work computer to conduct assassination-related research.
PENNSYLVANIA MAN CHARGED WITH THREATENING TRUMP, ICE AGENTS, OTHER OFFICIALS
According to prosecutors, his searches included how to smuggle a firearm into a federal facility, previous assassination attempts targeting Trump, statistics on how many people wanted him dead, and the statement, “I am going to kill Donald John Trump.”
The United States Secret Service interviewed DelleChiaie in early February, during which he allegedly admitted to carrying out the searches on his government-issued work computer and to owning three firearms, including a handgun kept in a safe at his home, the Justice Department said, citing a criminal complaint.
On April 21, DelleChiaie allegedly used his personal email account to send a message with the subject line “Contact the President” to the White House’s public-facing email address, accusing Trump of committing “terrorism.”
“I, Dean DelleChiaie, am going neutralize/kill you – Donald John Trump – because you decided to kill kids – and say that it was War – when in reality – it is terrorism. God knows your actions and where you belong,” the email stated, according to prosecutors.
DelleChiaie was charged by criminal complaint in federal court last Friday with interstate communication of a threat against the president.
He is expected to appear in court Tuesday. If convicted, DelleChiaie faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The United States Secret Service is leading the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Shannon is prosecuting the case.
