Columbus Man Pleads Guilty To Tweeting Threats Against President Of The United States

COLUMBUS – Daniel L. Temple, 36, of Columbus pleaded guilty in United States District Court to one count of threatening the President of the United States.

Carter M. Stewart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and Mark Porter, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service, announced the plea entered today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Norah McCann King.

According to court documents, on March 24, 2013, the Columbus office of the U.S. Secret Service received a notification that an individual had posted messages on the internet site Twitter.com in which the individual had repeatedly indicated they intended to kill the President of the United States. The notification detailed that the threats were posted via two separate addresses.

Secret Service agents responded to one of the residential addresses which was in Westerville, Ohio and spoke with Temple’s parents. Secret Service agents also went to Temple’s residence in Columbus and spoke with him. Temple told them that he had posted all of the messages which threatened to kill the President out of a sense of frustration with the current political climate.

Temple’s crime is punishable by a sentence ranging from probation to five years in prison. The court will conduct a pre-sentence investigation before determining the sentence and schedule a date for sentencing. Temple will remain on bond until sentencing.

U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the investigation by Secret Service agents, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hunter, who is representing the United States in this case.