A northern Michigan man with a history of threatening Democratic politicians pleaded guilty Monday to threatening to kill President Joe Biden by bombing the White House.
Timothy Heath Findlay, 49, of Prescott, a small village in the east of the West Division, is accused of April 28, the day Biden asked Congress for $33 billion to help Ukraine. At the time, Findlay was being held in the Arenac County Jail on an unrelated charge when he sent a letter threatening Biden, his wife, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and others.
Findlay wrote that when he was released from custody, he and others would “bomb the White House and kill everyone with cyanide,” according to his plea agreement. “Rape your wife(,) kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer(,) tie her up and put her in Lake Michigan. Then kill everyone with cyanide.”
The letter came amid heightened political unrest across the country and coincided with the criminal charges against two men accused of plotting to kidnap Whitmer, who were part of a larger group that discussed stranding him in Lake Michigan. The accused ringleaders Adam Fox and Barry Croft were sentenced to 16 years and almost 20 years respectively.
In Finley’s case, he put the letter in an envelope, addressed it to the White House, and dropped it off at a place where inmates are allowed to leave letters they want to send through the U.S. Mail.
He faces up to five years in federal prison at the sentencing by US District Judge Thomas Ludington, who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush.
Findlay was indicted in June, eight years after he was charged with threatening to kill President Barack Obama with a bomb.
In that case, Findlay was being held in the Ogemaw County Jail in September 2013 with a bomb threat when he wrote two notes that were found by jail staff.
The first note contained a threat to kill the judge “and the president with a bomb.” The second note reads: “I want to bomb the White House.”
Officers also found graffiti on the walls of his jail cell that read, “F—–‘ Kill the President” and “Kill Obama.”
Findlay told a Secret Service agent that “if he was drunk, he would definitely try to kill the president.” “The defendant admitted that he wanted to kill Barack Obama. Furthermore, the defendant stated that when he got out of prison, he would get a gun, borrow a car, go to Washington and kill the president.”
Findlay was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. Ludington recommended that Findlay serve the sentence in prison with a comprehensive drug treatment program.
After his release, Findlay got in trouble for violating the terms of his supervised release and was sent to prison for four months. He was released in May 2019.
Findlay actually talked about Obama’s threat when he pleaded guilty in 2014.
“I’m guilty because I’m the one who wrote it on the walls and said I’m going to kill the president, so yes, I’m guilty of that,” Findlay told the judge.
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