MIAMI, Fla. (CBS12) — A Miami man pleaded guilty to posting to social media that State Secretary Marco Rubio and Department of State Special Envoy Kristi Noem would “be executed.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 47-year-old Jon Christopher Enriquez pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts of transmitting threats through interstate communications.
gov.uscourts.flsd.716492.17.0PDF previewPreview PDF
Prosecutors said Enriquez used the social media platform X on May 27 to post multiple public threats directed at Rubio and Noem. The posts, made over the course of the afternoon, included statements threatening that both officials would be executed.
According to the indictment, one post read:
@SecRubio @StateDept Silence Yourself. Before you start thinking that America owns Cuba and start talking trash and calling Cuba a failure, the Criminal Court of the Armed Forces is going to begin the investigation of you as a failure to your nation. The 2 Falcon jets were replaced by Gulfstreams. Rubio, Noem … You have been found guilty of 18 USC Section 2384: Seditious Conspiracy. Both of you will be executed at 16:30. Best wishes to your future endeavors. @realDonaldTrump.”
A second post stated:
@SecRubio I guess the only way that you are going to shut your mouth is through DEATH.”
“Threatening to execute public officials is not political speech; it is a federal crime,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement. “Enriquez used a public platform to issue repeated, specific threats against Secretary Rubio and Special Envoy Noem. Today’s guilty plea makes clear that those who attempt to terrorize public servants or intimidate them through threats of violence will be swiftly identified, prosecuted, and held accountable.”
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Director of the Diplomatic Security Service Nicholas Collura said threats against senior State Department officials are taken seriously.
“Threatening a Secretary of State or any senior State Department official is a serious federal offense,” Collura said. “Protecting the people who serve this country is our highest priority, and we will not hesitate to act against anyone who threatens their safety.”
Enriquez faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison on each of the three counts. A federal judge will determine his sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The case was investigated by the Diplomatic Security Service with assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Miami Police Department and the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.