A Florida resident has been arrested after allegedly making a racially-motivated threat against a prospective candidate for city council in Charlottesville, Virginia, The Hill reports.
Daniel McMahon, 31, of Brandon, Florida, has been charged with “willful interference with a candidate for elective office, bias-motivated interference with a candidate for elective office, threats to injure in interstate commerce and cyberstalking,” according to the indictment, which was unsealed on Wednesday.
Prosecutors allege that McMahon threatened an unnamed candidate with the initials “D.G.,” who is said to be an “African-American resident of the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, [who] decided to run for the Democratic nomination to the Charlottesville City Council.”
“As alleged in the indictment, this defendant was motivated by racial animus and used his social-media accounts to threaten and intimidate a potential candidate for elective office,” U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen said in a statement.
“Although the First Amendment protects an individual’s right to broadcast hateful views online, it does not give license to threats of violence or bodily harm. We will continue to prioritize cyber-threat cases, including those giving rise to civil rights violations.”
“The alleged targeted and racially motivated actions by Daniel McMahon were an attempt to disrupt the American political process,” added David W. Archey, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division. “The FBI remains committed to protecting the civil liberties of all Americans. We are grateful for the assistance of the FBI office in Tampa and the partnership with the United States Attorney’s Office during this investigation.”
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