An employee of the Federal Aviation Administration was arrested and charged with making threats to kill President Donald Trump, authorities said.
Dean DelleChiaie, 35, of Nashua, New Hampshire, allegedly used his government-issued work computer in January to make searches on the internet, including the phrase, “I am going to kill Donald John Trump.” He also used his personal email account to send a message directly to the White House, prosecutors said in a statement on May 5.
"I, Dean DelleChiaie, am going neutralize/kill you – Donald John Trump – because you decided to kill kids – and say that it was War – when in reality – it is terrorism. God knows your actions and where you belong," DelleChiaie wrote in the email on April 21 with the subject line "Contact the President," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Hampshire.
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DelleChiaie was federally charged with making an interstate communication of a threat. If he's convicted, he could face five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. USA TODAY has reached out to DelleChiaie's attorney for comment.
The FAA employee admitted to investigators with the United States Secret Service that he made the internet searches in January. He also made searches about how to get a gun into a federal facility, previous assassination attempts against Trump, the percentage of the population that wants Trump dead, countdown clocks estimating the president's death, the location of Vice President JD Vance's home and the names of his children and Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth's home and information about his children, according to a criminal complaint.
DelleChiaie asked the IT department at the FAA to wipe the search history from his device, the complaint said. The department reported the searches and the FAA contacted the Secret Service to investigate.
He told the Secret Service in an interview in February that he owned three firearms, including a handgun that was in his safe at home, the District Attorney's Office said. He was "remorseful," the complaint said, and said it was "crazy for him to do this on his work computer." He told investigators he was upset at the Trump administration for reasons that included the election, presidential pardons and the Epstein files.
DelleChiaie worked as a contractor in mechanical engineering for the FAA, according to a criminal complaint. He was suspended after making the searches.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FAA employee charged with threatening to kill Donald Trump
