Rickey Johnson, Threatening Elected Officials, New York 2021

Rickey Johnson, a 47-year-old man from New York, has been charged with making threatening interstate communications and threatening United States officials after allegedly posting public videos on Instagram threatening to kill several cable news broadcasters, a United States Senator, a member of the United States House of Representatives, other current and former elected officials, and several cable news broadcasters.

According to the complaint, Johnson sent a private message to a cable news broadcaster on January 30, 2021, threatening, ‘you will all be held accountable . . . you will be killed.’ He also posted public messages in which he stated that he intended to ‘kill’ two of the same broadcasters.

On February 4, 2021, Johnson posted public messages threatening, among others, a United States Senator, a member of the United States House of Representatives, a former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and a governor. For example, Johnson declared that the Senator was ‘dead’ and would be ‘executed,’ that Johnson was ‘going to kill’ the Representative, and that the governor ‘will be executed’ and ‘will be killed.’

Johnson will be presented before United States Magistrate Gabriel W. Gorenstein in Manhattan federal court today. He faces a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment for making threatening interstate communications and ten years’ imprisonment for threatening United States officials.

Audrey Strauss, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, praised the outstanding investigative work of the NYPD, the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau, Leads Investigation Unit, and the NYPD’s 23rd Precinct Field Intelligence Team.

The case is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew J. DeFilippis and Patrick R. Moroney are in charge of the prosecution.

The charge contained in the Complaint is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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