A Columbia man was charged with threatening to 'explode the IRS' building and kill Nancy Pelosi
- A man from Columbia, Maryland, was charged after tweeting threats to "explode the IRS headquarters" and kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
- Cody Wolf Gideon Mohr, 27, of Columbia, Maryland, was arrested earlier Thursday after a criminal complaint was filed related to his tweets.
- Investigators identified Mohr as the user behind the Twitter account @BonaFried where he made threats to blow up federal property and kill the House Speaker.
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A man is facing federal charges after he tweeted threats to "explode the IRS headquarters," as well as threaten to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Cody Wolf Gideon Mohr, 27, of Columbia, Maryland, was arrested earlier Thursday after a criminal complaint was filed in relation to his tweets.
A routine review of public social media accounts by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Criminal Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division flagged Mohr's Twitter account, @BonaFried. The review found that "the user threatened the IRS and federal employees, including political officials and law enforcement officers," according to a statement from the Justice Department.
According to an affidavit, a tweet from the account dated January 15 read: "I am going to explode the IRS headquarters with a bomb." In a follow-up tweet around the same time, the user wrote, "I am simply announcing my intentions to give employees a fair shot at escaping alive."
"The user posted other tweets since January 15, 2021, allegedly making additional threats including that he was 'laser focused on thinking about ways to kill [Speaker of the House] Nancy Pelosi,' '[it would be cool to] drive 80 mph into a million people,' and that '…if a cop pulls you over for something minor like speeding or a busted tail light, you can just threaten his life and he'll let you go with no trouble,'" according to the Justice Department statement.
Investigators pinpointed the IP addresses used to access the @BonaFried account in and around Columbia, Maryland, and identified Mohr as the user of the Twitter account.
"We take threats to bomb a federal building and injure federal employees seriously," US Attorney Robert K. Hur said in a statement. "The US Attorney's Office and our law enforcement partners will use all the tools at our disposal to identify and prosecute those who make such threats."
If charged, Mohr could face up to 10 years in prison for making threats to destroy a federal building with an explosive. It is unclear if Mohr will also face charges for threatening the life of the House Speaker.
Mohr is scheduled to appear in court in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 22.
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