TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Tallahassee man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after authorities said he made multiple online threats of violence against President Donald J. Trump and other federal officials.<\/p>\n
Diego M. Villavicencio, 36, of Tallahassee, Florida, was sentenced for two counts of sending interstate threats, one count of impeding or retaliating against a federal official, and one count of threats against the President. The plea was announced by John P. Heekin, United States attorney for the Northern District of Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cCriminal threats directed at public officials are becoming alarmingly more common, and this must stop now. We have zero-tolerance for such criminality in the Northern District of Florida, and my office will continue to aggressively prosecute these violent criminal threats to keep our public officials safe,\u201d Heekin said.<\/p>\n
Court documents said Villavicencio made threats over the course of several months directed at Trump, former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 15, 2025, court documents said Villavicencio posted threats on his X account directed at Powell, including one post depicting an image of a red sight and crosshairs pointed at Powell\u2019s head with the text \u201cJerome. Powell will be shot and killed September 23\u201d (sic), and a second post depicting the same image with the text \u201cJerome is next.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sept. 16, 2025, court documents said Villavicencio again sent threats via his X account, this time directed toward a member of Congress. Responding to a post by the member, he wrote, \u201cI\u2019ll kill you and your family and you won\u2019t do anything about it. Corruption listens to bullets.\u201d Court documents said he then sent a direct message to the member stating, \u201cYou are going to be shot and killed on September 24.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Jan. 25, 2026, court documents said Villavicencio responded to a post on the online platform 4chan, stating that he would be driving to Mar-a-Lago \u201cto take a couple of shots at trump and some of the other corrupt plutocrats[.]\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThreats of violence against the President and other federal officials are serious crimes and have no place in our society,\u201d said FBI Jacksonville Special Agent in Charge Jason Carley. \u201cThe FBI and our law enforcement partners remain steadfast in our commitment to investigate, prevent harm and ensure those responsible are held accountable under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProtective intelligence is one of the most important tools available to the United States Secret Service. Identifying, investigating, and prosecuting individuals who threaten the life of the President of the United States or other protected officials reflects the seriousness with which we treat every threat,\u201d said Seth Reister, resident agent in charge of Secret Service Tallahassee. \u201cThe Secret Service will not tolerate threats, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting the Office of the President and all our protectees. The conviction and sentencing in this case demonstrate the dedication and professionalism of our agents, law enforcement partners, and prosecutorial partners in carrying out that mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Villavicencio\u2019s prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release, with the first year on home detention. Special conditions of supervision include a mental health evaluation and treatment and submitting to computer monitoring by the probation office.<\/p>\n
The case involved a joint investigation 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.<\/p>\n
The case is part of the nationwide National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 initiative, described as a White House-directed, interagency effort to integrate federal, state and local partners in protecting First Amendment rights while targeting individuals and organizations engaged in political violence, led by the investigative and prosecutorial Joint Task Force Vanguard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Tallahassee man has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after authorities said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-359682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}