CHARLOTTE,
N.C. – Johnathan Trent Thomas, 27, of Linwood, N.C., was sentenced
today to 15 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release
for making threats to murder federal officers to impede, intimidate, or
interfere with the performance of their official duties, announced Russ
Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Mark
Zito, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
in North Carolina and South Carolina, joins U.S. Attorney Ferguson in
making today’s announcement.
“Threatening the lives of law
enforcement officers is a serious federal crime,” said U.S. Attorney
Ferguson. “We take every threat against law enforcement
seriously. Today’s case sends a clear message: those who threaten
violence against law enforcement will be held accountable in federal
court.”
“Ensuring the safety of our law enforcement officers is
paramount,” said Special Agent in Charge Zito. “Threats of violence
against federal agents and our local partners undermine the rule of law
and jeopardize the security of our communities. HSI remains committed to
working with our partners to investigate and bring to justice those who
seek to intimidate or harm officers in the performance of their
duties.”
According to filed court documents and court proceedings,
on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at approximately 12:00 p.m., a caller,
later identified as Thomas, contacted the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police
Department (CMPD) and threatened to kill Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) agents and CMPD officers if immigration enforcement
actions did not stop. During a second telephone call with a CMPD
officer, Thomas warned that he was coming to Charlotte with armor
piercing ammunition, night vision devices, and body armor to kill law
enforcement officers and threatened to “shoot them all” if he observed
anyone making arrests. Thomas was referencing arrests made previously by
ICE federal agents on Albemarle Road in Charlotte.
Court
documents show that Thomas stated that if a police officer pointed a gun
at him, he was just going to open fire. He also said that he would
“Swiss cheese” the officers if they were doing the same thing they did
before, meaning making arrests.
Thomas additionally threatened
that if law enforcement came to arrest him, he had Tannerite (an
explosive) all around his house. He threatened that he “could do a
whole lot better than” April 29, 2024, the day four law enforcement
officers were killed in the line of duty in Charlotte.
Thomas’s
threats did not deter law enforcement, who not only arrested him, but
executed a search warrant at Thomas’s residence, seizing three rifles, a
handgun, and a variety of ammunition.
According to court
records, Thomas has an extensive history of threatening law enforcement,
to include the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office and CMPD, and had
previously followed CMPD officers in marked patrol cars while they were
performing their official duties.
Thomas is in federal custody and
will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons
upon designation of a federal facility.
In making today’s
announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson commended HSI for the investigation
of the case and thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle
District of North Carolina, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives, the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, the Waxhaw Police
Department, and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department for their
assistance.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Kelly and Stephanie Spaugh of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.
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