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Frank Carillo, of Winchester, was arrested for allegedly making thousands of posts targeting public officials on the social media site GETTR.
WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury indicted a Virginia man Wednesday on more than a dozen counts for allegedly making threats against Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama.
Earlier this month, the FBI arrested Frank Lucio Carillo, of Winchester, for allegedly making thousands of threatening posts targeting public officials. At the time, Carillo was arrested on a single charge of threatening the vice president of the United States.
On Wednesday, a federal grand jury in Charlottesville indicted Carillo on 14 counts:
- Five counts of making threats against the vice president of the United Stated (Harris)
- Five counts of interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure Harris
- Two counts of making threats against a former president (Obama)
- Two counts of of interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure a former president (Obama)
Each count is a felony that carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison upon conviction.
According to an affidavit, investigators were first made aware of alleged threats made by Carillo by the office of Maricopa County (Arizona) Recorder Stephen Richer. Richer, a Republican who oversees elections in Arizona’s largest county, has been the target of years of harassment and threats since former President Donald Trump lost the state, and his bid for re-election, in 2020.
The alleged threats were made on the conservative social media site GETTR, which was founded by former Trump aide Jason Miller. According to the affidavit, the FBI received records from GETTR documenting more than 4,300 posts made by the account “joemadarats1” targeting public officials, including Harris, Richer, President Joe Biden, FBI Director Christopher Wray and others.
Investigators identified multiple posts targeted at Harris on July 27 alone, including several that threatened her directly with harm. In one post, Carillo allegedly wrote, “I will cut your eyes out of your F****ING head while you’re alive b****.”
In another post, Carillo allegedly wrote, “Harris is going to regret ever trying to become president because if that ever happened I will personally pluck out her eyes with a pair of pliers but first I will shoot and kill everyone that gets in my way that is a f****** promise.”
Additional posts targeting Obama were included in the indictment filed this week. In one, also posted on July 27, Carillo allegedly wrote that Obama's "whole family will die." In another he allegedly wrote they should be lynched.
The FBI identified Carillo by tracing the email connected to his alleged GETTR account to a cell phone and, ultimately, to an address in Winchester, Virginia. According to the affidavit, when FBI agents arrived at his door, Carillo asked for a lawyer and then said, “This is all over a comment, huh?” FBI agents recovered an RF-15 rifle and a 9mm handgun inside the residence.
In addition to threats to elected officials, investigators said Carillo also posted numerous times between November 2023 and July 2024 about his desire to shoot people. In one post, Carillo allegedly wrote, “Don’t wait for your gov. Go out with your guns and kill all Muslims.”
In another, investigators said, he wrote, “I believe when [the] illegals show up to vote they should be shot in the head quickly they are not allowed to vote so then they must die cuz if I see any of them I’ll kill them.”
Carillo’s arrest was the latest in a string of investigations into threats made both toward Trump and his perceived political opponents. In August 2023, a Texas woman was charged with threatening to kill U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s election fraud cause in D.C. That same month, a Chicago-area woman was charged with emailing threats to shoot Trump and his youngest son. Trump himself was grazed by a would-be assassin’s bullet last month during a rally in Pennsylvania. The FBI, which is still investigating the attack, has not yet revealed a suspected motive for the shooting. The agency said earlier this month Trump had agreed to be interviewed as part of that investigation.
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