An elderly man in Florida was arrested after making threats to kill President Donald Trump on social media, according to a press release from Jupiter police.
Police said 73-year-old Glen DeCicco was arrested on Friday on a charge of making written threats to kill after he allegedly posted on Facebook that the president should be assassinated.
‘Instead of waiting for someone to actually be in the planning and preparation stage, we’re actually trying now to identify those potential individuals as potential targets, opening up investigations.’
Police said they were tipped off about the threats and reviewed DeCicco’s posts before coordinating the arrest with the United States Secret Service. Federal and local officers interviewed the man and arrested him without incident. He was booked into the Palm Beach County jail.
The probable cause statement said DeCicco appeared agitated about politics in the interview and tried to downplay the threats as creative wordplay. When asked why he said he wrote that he would kill the president, DeCicco reportedly responded, “It was a thought that I had.”
Former FBI Special Agent Stuart Kaplan told WPBF-TV that threats are being more proactively investigated before they turn to action.
“In this day and age, law enforcement is now utilizing proactive measures to get out in front of it,” said Kaplan, who is now an attorney. “Instead of waiting for someone to actually be in the planning and preparation stage, we’re actually trying now to identify those potential individuals as potential targets, opening up investigations.”
He went on to say that citizens should be reassured that the FBI works hard to protect their privacy rights while investigating threats.
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