Superseding Indictment Handed Down Against a Rochester Man for Threatening to Kill the President, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Rochester Mayor

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a seven-count superseding indictment charging Brandon Correa, 30, of Rochester, N.Y., with making multiple direct threats to kill the President of the United States, Barack Obama. The defendant is also charged with making multiple online threats to kill New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy, and Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren. Each count is punishable by five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig R. Gestring, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, the defendant, who had previously been indicted for posting online threats to kill President Obama, Governor Cuomo, and Lieutenant Governor Duffy in June, made and posted new threats against them following his arraignment on those charges last week. Correa also made new online threats against Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren. The defendant was interviewed following the June threats and told a Secret Service Agent that the President had to “die.”

The defendant will be arraigned later this week before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marian W. Payson.

The superseding indictment is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the United States Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge, Tracy Gast, Investigators from the New York State Police, Protective Services Unit, under the direction of Major Stephen Nevins, and Investigators from the Rochester Police Department, Major Crimes Unit, under the direction of Chief Michael Ciminelli.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.