Las Cruces man accused of plotting Biden assassination, mass shooting
UPDATE:Lawyer: Las Cruces resident denies threatening to kill Biden
LAS CRUCES – The FBI is alleging a Las Cruces man sent text messages with plans to kill U.S. President Joe Biden, overthrow the government and execute people at a Canadian computer company.
According to court documents, John Thornton, 39, is charged with transmitting in interstate commerce communications containing any threat to injure the person of another, a violation of federal law.
In a criminal complaint, FBI Special Agent Ryan Buckrop said a phone belonging to Thornton sent several threatening text messages to four people in Texas and Florida.
"Tell my concern their father is The revolutionary war general," one message reads. "5 stars now. 5 stars after I execute Joe Biden for Treason."
The FBI alleges Thornton sent messages indicating that he was going to execute staff at D-Wave Systems Inc., a Canadian computing company.
"We are taking the Hells Angel's d-wave quantum computer company and shotgun execute every single one of them for running MKTJLTRA," Thornton is accused of writing in text messages.
Over the last few months, Thornton created dozens of Facebook posts connecting the Canadian computer firm to MK ULTRA, a cold-war era research project where the U.S. government sought to create a mind-control drug. In Facebook posts, Thornton accused D-Wave Systems Inc. of drugging people with methamphetamine at the request of the government.
The text messages, which the FBI attached to the criminal complaint, also contain threats to Thornton's ex-wife, the U.S. president and people receiving the messages.
"Just so you know, my ex-wife is a traitor and likely to be executed by my new government," Thornton is accused of texting.
According to the criminal complaint, the FBI said Thornton was the subject of complaints since November of 2020. The agency stated that several people who'd review messages characterized them as disturbing or threatening over the last four years.
On May 21, FBI agents obtained a search warrant to review records regarding Thornton's phone, according to the criminal complaint. The FBI said those records placed Thornton's phone in Las Cruces when the messages were sent.
Thornton's detention hearing is scheduled for Friday morning in U.S. District Court in Las Cruces.
Read the full complaint below:
Justin Garcia is the breaking news, courts and crime reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at jegarcia@lcsun-news.com or @Just516garc on Twitter.
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