A Maryland man faces federal charges and up to five years in jail for threatening to kill former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris in a letter he left at the driveway of a home in his hometown, the Justice Department reported.
"Warning !!!", in big red letters, was the beginning of the note that James Dale Reed, 42, left last October 4 in a house with posters in favor of the Democratic candidates in the city of Frederick, northwest of Washington DC
The letter indicated that all Biden and Harris supporters in the elections on November 3 were "in the crosshairs," according to the Washington branch of NBC News, the sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
"We are the ones who have those weapons that scare them, we are the ones who appear in their children's nightmares," he added.
Then, he
directly threatened to kidnap, attack, and murder Biden and Harris.
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The video camera entering the house captured an image of the man leaving the note, according to the court filing against him.
But it was an anonymous tip that led police to question Reed, prosecutors told The Associated Press.
"Annoyed by the political situation" in the United States
Initially, the man denied what happened, but when arrested two days later, he confessed to the crime.
Reed told investigators he was "upset about the political situation" in the country when he wrote the threat letter, a Secret Service agent said.
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Reed has been arrested and charged by the Service for the federal crime of threatening a political candidate, which
carries a sentence of up to five years in prison
, and for two violations of state laws for threats of violence and against voters, said The New York Times.
Death threats against front-line candidates and politicians are not a rarity in election years.
In early October, federal agents thwarted an attempted kidnapping of Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The defendants belong to two far-right militias that would have also targeted the governor of Virginia, according to the FBI.