Colorado Man Indicted for Threatening Obama

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Thu Jan 29, 2009 at 06:39:43 PM EST
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A 20 year old from Cortez, Colorado has been indicted for threatening to kill then-President Elect Barack Obama eight days before his inauguration. He was also indicted for threatening to blow up the Mall of America in Minneapolis.

[Timothy Ryan]Gutierrez faces one count each of transmission of threats and falsely threatening to use explosives. The indictment claims Gutierrez e-mailed the FBI's Washington office eight days before Obama's inauguration saying: "I'm going to assassinate the new president of the United States of America. P.S., you have 48 hours to stop it from happening."

The indictment says a second e-mail threatened to blow up the mall with 40 pounds of C4 explosive and TNT planted on seven cars parked outside.

The FBI paid Guitierrez a visit the day of the emails, but didn't arrest him. Guitierrez turned himself in this afternoon at the FBI Office in Durango. Cortez is a small town with a population under 10,000 in Southwestern Colorado.

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Colorado Man Indicted for Threatening Obama | 11 comments (11 topical)

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I have no idea what this guy had against (5.00 / 4) (#1)
by eric on Thu Jan 29, 2009 at 06:51:12 PM EST

the Mall of America. Maybe he meant the National Mall because he heard about it on TV and really didn't know the difference?

: My guess is... (5.00 / 4) (#4)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Jan 29, 2009 at 07:55:45 PM EST

...an over-active case of Attention Deficit Disorder. Couldn't take the over-stimulation of deciding what to buy from the Minnesota Bound store while riding the SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge.
Or maybe the giant Dora the Explorer scared him.
Either one of those might send me over the edge too.

Gawwwwd. (5.00 / 3) (#5)
by scribe on Thu Jan 29, 2009 at 08:53:31 PM EST

This guy's defense counsel had better have him checked out for mental status issues because he sounds like he has a whole mess of screws loose.

Chances are he'll pass the low standard of competency, but still. [I'm just sitting here, eyes closed, piching the bridge of my nose while shaking my head from side to side at the thought of how many screws loose and how loose.]

What ever happened to those tweakers from the lead up to the convention - the ones with the rifle, plan and so on who got on Denver TV. IIRC, the Colorado FBI office interviewed them and didn't feel too threatened by them either, and left them to the tender mercies of the local cops and state courts.

Letting go a guy threatening Obama once is a data point, but twice (like here) seems to be the start of a pattern.

The tweakers... (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Jan 29, 2009 at 09:56:57 PM EST

...aren't totally off the hook...

In Denver, a group of men made racist threats against Obama and sparked fears of an assassination plot during the Democratic National Convention in August. Federal authorities said the threats weren't credible, and the men have been charged only with firearms and drug violations.

: Well, like I said (none / 0) (#9)
by scribe on Fri Jan 30, 2009 at 08:40:58 AM EST

they left them to the tender mercies of the local cops and state courts.
That would, in my book, equate to "not letting them off the hook".

He e-mailed the FBI (5.00 / 2) (#7)
by weltec2 on Thu Jan 29, 2009 at 10:45:40 PM EST

Maybe he's unemployed and looking for free room and board.

Strange (none / 0) (#2)
by squeaky on Thu Jan 29, 2009 at 06:51:28 PM EST

That he was not taken into custody. Guess he is not a threat, or at least I am hoping that is why he is still free.

Dumber than dumb (none / 0) (#3)
by Saul on Thu Jan 29, 2009 at 07:23:37 PM EST

is truely threatening (none / 0) (#8)
by cpinva on Fri Jan 30, 2009 at 12:48:51 AM EST

to use explosives a different charge, than falsely threatening?

that just sounds kind of weird, but i understand the legal basis for it.

clearly, this guy has more than the average number of screws loose, but that doesn't mean i think he should be running the streets either.

I'd be shocked.... (none / 0) (#10)
by kdog on Fri Jan 30, 2009 at 08:46:27 AM EST

if he ever really intended to do anything....my impression is that he is one of those publicity seekers begging to get locked up for the notoriety.

That is a phenomena I will never understand...a cage is not the place to be.

Hope he doesn't get locked up for too long.

One of the advtanges that Arab states (none / 0) (#11)
by samtaylor2 on Fri Jan 30, 2009 at 10:56:40 AM EST

have over us is that they had a long history of giving good free higher education to many people. This along with zero opportunities created a strong, intelligent crazy person class that that could efficiently lead and train today's terrorist. Versus here in the US, as we de-invest from schools and public works our crazies are useless fools (thank god :).