Military vet arrested by FBI, charged with making threats to Sen. Ted Cruz U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas speaks at the Texas Values "Faith, Family and Freedom Forum" in Sept. 2019. (Eli Imadali/Austin American-Statesman/TNS)
Federal agents have arrested and charged a Washington man for threatening the life of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Eric Kikkert appeared Friday afternoon in Seattle before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kate Vaughan, who ordered him held pending a preliminary hearing April 15 before Magistrate Judge Michelle Peterson.
A six-page complaint filed Friday and signed by FBI Special Agent Caryn Highley of the Seattle FBI Office alleges Kikkert, a military veteran, sent threatening, “nonsensical” emails to the U.S. Capitol and traveled to Washington, D.C., on March 10, where he was questioned at a hotel by agents of the U.S. Secret Service.
On March 21, the complaint says, a man calling from Kikkert’s number contacted Cruz’s office “and stated that the Senator either could ‘answer my questions by giving me a call or at the end of my rifle.'”
On March 22, the complaint says an individual showed Capitol Police a text from Kikkert’s phone that included a photograph of Kikkert from his time in the military, holding a rifle and with a caption that threatened the Republican senator’s life.
That same day, Cruz’s office reported a series of voicemails in which an individual who identified himself as Kikkert threatened to kill Cruz.
According to the complaint, on March 18, Kikkert was stopped by state police in Maryland, where he was cited for trespassing at the Hagerstown Speedway racetrack. That same day he allegedly left a rambling voicemail with the office of the Architect of the Capitol’s Office of Inspector General, in which he threatened to form a militia and “enforce the Constitution myself.”
In a March 18 Facebook post, Kikkert purportedly wrote he wanted to buy a handgun, a shotgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. The complaint says Kikkert has a felony conviction and is prohibited from owning firearms.
The complaint says Kikkert’s mother said he has mental health problems and has refused to take his medication. She told law enforcement her son had been trying to obtain body armor. She reported the Facebook post to the Capitol Police, the complaint says.
Kikkert has a Vancouver address. The complaint says the calls made to Cruz’s office were routed through a Kent cellphone tower.
___
(c)2022 The Seattle Times
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
