(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/01/2023) A Lenawee County resident is facing federal charges alleging he threatened to kill “Jewish members of the Michigan government,” a plan he described in Twitter posts.
The criminal complaint, unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, charges Jack Eugene Carpenter III, 41, with one count of making threats via interstate communications.
A judge agreed to hold Carpenter in custody pending a detention hearing Friday after Assistant U.S. Attorney Hank Moon told the court that officers found more than half a dozen firearms and ammunition in his vehicle, which is concerning due to the nature of the allegations.
Moon also noted that Carpenter, whose Twitter posts include statements the court lacks “jurisdiction over me,” is a flight risk.
The court record shows that FBI National Threat Operations Center provided the Detroit FBI office with information about threats from a Twitter user “TemperedReason,” or “@tempered_reason.”
Screenshots of posts show that on Feb. 17, TemperedReason wrote: “I’m heading back to Michigan now threatening to carry out the punishment of death to anyone that is jewish [sic] in the Michigan govt [sic] if they don’t leave, or confess, and now that kind of problem. Because I can Legally do that right?” according to the complaint.
According to an affidavit, the tweets were made when Carpenter was in a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas.
As of 1 p.m. today, Carpenter’s Twitter feed remained visible.
His tweets discussing sovereignty included a declaration of a new country, “New Israel,” being formed in a 9-mile radius of an address in Tipton.
In one thread dated Feb. 17, Carpenter wrote that “any Jewish person holding a public office on my land” is subject to “immediate punishment,” which he says is to leave, confess, resign or “be punished. I have deemed you guilty. Judgement has been given.”
He later adds in the same thread: “You have to crack some eggs to make an omelet. I will have peace. This is over, one way or another. Choose your path, pick your karma.”
The FBI identified Carpenter as a resident at the Tipton address and learned that there is a valid, but unserved, personal protection order against him.
The FBI also learned that Michigan State Police arrested Carpenter in December for assault and that he had three 9mm handguns registered in a law enforcement database. The MSP investigation came after Carpenter’s mother reported that her son was angry because she refused to give him money to return to Michigan. The mother provided screenshots of her son’s Twitter posts, including one that said he would return to Michigan and “any attempt to subdue me will be met with deadly force in self-defense.”
Carpenter’s case is the latest incident alleging threats to public officials.
More than a dozen residents were charged in state and federal courts related to the 2020 plot to kidnap and kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
In federal court, two defendants were convicted after a jury trial, while two were acquitted and two pleaded guilty. In Jackson County, three defendants were convicted and sentenced while charges remain pending against five others in Antrim County.
In a separate case, Katelyn Jones is charged in U.S. District Court in Detroit on allegations that she sent threatening texts to Wayne County Board of Canvassers chair Monica Palmer. Her case is set for a possible plea hearing Thursday or trial on March 21.
