TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Tallahassee man is facing federal charges after a grand jury indictment alleging he made threats across state lines, including a threat against the President.
Diego M. Villavicencio, 36, of Tallahassee, was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with two counts of interstate communication of threats, one count of impeding or retaliating against a federal official, and one count of threats against the President, according to an announcement from John P. Heekin, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida.
Villavicencio appeared for arraignment in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Martin A. Fitzpatrick in Tallahassee. A jury trial is scheduled for May 5, 2026, before Chief U.S. District Judge Allen C. Winsor.
If convicted, Villavicencio faces up to five years in prison on each count of interstate communication of threats and threatening the President, and up to 10 years in prison for impeding or retaliating against a federal official.
Villavicencio’s attorney, Robert Morris, said he is reviewing discovery in the case and described the allegations as drawing a “fine line” on “protected speech. He added that he will work to put the statements attributed to Villavicencio into their proper context and not presented as “cherry picked” statements as they are in the indictment.
Morris also said the comments attributed to his client came at a “great time of personal challenge” and that Villavicencio was under a lot of stress from his job and other concerns.
Morris said the conduct alleged in the indictment dates to Sept. 15 and 16, 2025, and that those supposedly threatened were not explicitly named in the indictment except for the sitting President of the United States. He said he looks forward to the prompt resolution of the matter.
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The case was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Capitol Police, the Federal Reserve Board Protective Service and the U.S. Secret Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric W. Welch.