Morris R. Whitehead, Threatening Federal Building, Florida 2015

Miami-Dade resident Morris R. Whitehead, 53, has been charged with threatening to destroy the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building by fire or bomb.

According to allegations contained in the affidavit in support of a criminal complaint, Whitehead called the FBI’s Miami Field Office on April 20, 2015 and indicated that the IRS Building in Miami, Florida should be evacuated within two hours because it was going to go up in smoke.

Whitehead was arrested later that same day and allegedly admitted to law enforcement officers that he had placed the threatening call.

“Threats to federal buildings are taken extremely seriously and we will continue to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law any attempts to disrupt the proper functioning of government and endanger the community,” stated United States Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer.

The charge against Whitehead, willfully making a threat through the use of a telephone concerning an attempt to be made to unlawfully damage or destroy a building by means of fire or an explosive, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 844(e), is punishable by a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.

Whitehead is scheduled to be arraigned on May 5, 2015.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam Fels. A complaint is only an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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