‘We are armed and nearby your house’: Bay Point man charged with threats to Congressman, journalist – By Nate Gartrell (Mercury News) / January 26 2021
Alleged crimes were apparently motivated by his displeasure with what he called President Joe Biden’s “non-existent victory”
BAY POINT — A Bay Point man has been arrested and charged in federal court with making online threats to a Congressman and a journalist, alleged crimes that were apparently motivated by his displeasure with what he called President Joe Biden’s “non-existent victory,” authorities said in court records.
Robert Lemke, 35, was charged with making threatening interstate communications, a federal offense that carries a maximum of five years in prison. Lemke was arrested in Bay Point and extradited to Manhattan, where the Southern District of New York’s U.S. Attorney’s office filed the charges.
“The electoral process is the essential mechanism through which our democracy functions. While in any election it is inevitable that some will be disappointed in the result, threats of violence cannot and will not be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a written statement announcing the charges.
The threats to the journalist were made Jan. 6, the same day a large group of Donald Trump supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to force Congress to stop officiating Biden’s victory. The threats to the Congressman were made five days later, according to the complaint. Neither of the victims has been publicly identified.
