A Colorado man is charged with sending emails titled “Declaration of War,” threatening Tesla owners, President Donald Trump’s Cabinet and Elon Musk, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Carl Howard Payne Jr., of Colorado Springs, was arrested by the FBI and charged with interstate communication of threats after he was accused of sending the emails from a Proton Mail account to news outlets in multiple states on March 20. In a news release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado alleged that Payne described how Tesla owners would be murdered in “newsworthy killings” from April 17 onward until Musk’s death.
If he is convicted, Payne faces up to five years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine or both and three years’ supervised release.
Payne denied sending the emails to the FBI on Tuesday, and it is not immediately clear whether he has a lawyer.
According to a criminal complaint, the emails extensively attacked Trump’s presidency and Cabinet and called for the current government to be abolished. The emails are also alleged to detail “Operation: Swasticar,” with the objective of killing Musk and Tesla drivers “at their homes, on the road, while shopping, or at Nazi charging stations.”
“Death is no threat to Those under the boot, but We deeply regret its necessity in this matter,” the email said, according to the criminal complaint.
The same message was sent to ProPublica and Thomson Reuters in New York from a Signal user, “c,” the complaint says.
Federal prosecutors say the IP address associated with the Proton Mail account, along with other evidence, indicates that Payne was the user of both the Proton Mail and the Signal accounts, the complaint says.
Another line of an email read: “We are Luigi. We Are One,” the complaint says, seeming to refer to Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Payne is accused of sending similar threatening letters around April 2 to several insurance companies, with a return address of “The White House” but postmarked from Denver, according to the complaint.
“We recommend you cancel all comprehensive vehicle coverage of Tesla vehicles effective 16 April 2025,” the letter said, according to the criminal complaint.
After Payne was arrested, authorities found three handguns during a search of his house: a .40-caliber pistol and two rifles. The email specifically mentioned the pistol in the “operation” details, among other things, the complaint says.
Payne previously worked in technology management and the software industry, and his only criminal record was an expired vehicle registration, according to the complaint.
He initially appeared in court Wednesday. His detention hearing is set for Tuesday morning.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Read the full article here