A potential registered sex offender in Florida was arrested and charged with three criminal counts related to threatening President Joe Biden and other federal officials, the U.S. Justice Department announced on Wednesday, just days after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
The Secret Service, which has come under intense scrutiny since Trump’s shooting by a gunman whose motives remain a mystery, has been monitoring 39-year-old Jason Patrick Alday of Quincy, Fla., since late June and, with U.S. Marshalls, detained him on Monday, according to court documents.
Here’s what we know so far, as the case—which is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Welch—is now pending trial.
‘I want to kill him, slit his throat’
The Secret Service’s senior special agent Jeffery S. Boothe outlined the alleged sequence of events in a criminal complaint affidavit filed with the Tallahassee Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
According to the affidavit, the presidential protection agency was first alerted to Alday on June 25, when Joann Noel, an intake coordinator at the Apalachee Center, reported that Alday had checked himself into the mental health facility and said: “I don’t like President Biden. I want to kill him, slit his throat.”
Noel spoke with Tjamas Matthews, a senior special agent of the Secret Service’s Tallahassee office, who, accompanied by local sheriff’s deputies, visited Alday on July 1 at his parents’ home, where he resides. Alday denied making the statement and was agitated by Matthews’ line of questioning, the affidavit says.
On July 11, the Secret Service’s Open Source Intelligence Branch (OSB) flagged that an X account linked to Alday posted “i’ll kill joe biden today!!”
The OSB also flagged four other posts from the account, which operated under the handle Jason Alderman/@Jman86628004 and has since been suspended:
“sources: Joe biden’s health is declining rapidly. Not doing too good at all. Should I finish him off?” reads a post from June 30.
“The secret service sent a special agent n—– to my house with gadsden county officers. I’ll still slit joe biden’s throat,” a post from July 1 said, using a racial slur.
“I want special agent matthews dead, too. stupid n—– has gotta go!” was posted on July 5.
And later on July 11: “Where you at special agent matthews ? come arrest me n—–!! this is Jason Alday!!”
‘He has mental health issues’
In an order of detention, U.S. magistrate judge Charles A. Stampelos ordered Alday to be committed to the custody of the attorney general’s office for confinement in a corrections facility.
Stampelos acknowledged defense counsel’s arguments that Alday “does not have the apparent ability to carry out any threat and he has not taken any steps to carry out his threats” and that “he was just venting on the internet because he has mental health issues.”
According to the court document, Alday’s mother Elizabeth said her son “has schizoaffective disorder and ADHD, and he is bipolar and on the autism spectrum.” She said he relies on her for daily medication, including a mood stabilizer, antidepressants, and anti-psychosis drugs, and that he receives state-mandated weekly therapy at home. She also said that she has never seen him with a firearm and that he cannot drive.
‘Somewhat of a danger’
Prosecutors argued that even the most restrictive home conditions would not be sufficient for Alday, who had, while under previous monitoring, lost his ankle bracelet and “a battery resulted when the probation officer went to investigate.”
Prosecutors also claimed that Alday has access to kitchen knives and a car at home, and that he had a history of previous run-ins with law enforcement, including pushing a deputy during one of several visits to his home.
While Alday has been adjudged as “incompetent” by a state court in September 2023 and October 2021 and has state court hearings pending for August and December this year, his federal defense counsel said she believes Alday is “competent for purposes of these proceedings and that he appears to understand what is happening.”
Stampelos noted that the federal court is “not bound by what the state court does” and concluded that Alday represents “somewhat of a danger” to the community, citing that he has “demonstrated a consistent trend in the last two years of competency problems and violations.”
While the court documents pertaining to Alday’s current detention did not make any references to specific prior charges or offenses, a man with the same name and age is listed on Florida’s sex offender and predator registry over an accusation in 2006 of molesting a minor aged 12 to 15.
The post ‘Should I Finish Him Off?’: What to Know About the Florida Man Arrested for Threatening Biden appeared first on TIME.
