A U.S. citizen living in Thailand was arrested on charges of threatening to murder North Carolina Republican Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis along with their staffs because he was angry about receiving a huge number of unsolicited political emails.
Eric Charles Welton, who had been living overseas for more than a decade, made multiple harassing and intimidating calls to the offices of the Republican officials and associated organizations, federal prosecutors in North Carolina said in court documents unsealed Tuesday.
In September 2021, Mr. Burr and Mr. Tillis received roughly seven calls from an unknown number complaining about the larger number of unsolicited Republican party emails and threatening to kill the senators and their staff, according to the criminal complaint. The emails did not come from either senators’ offices.
Mr. Welton was arrested last week at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
He is charged with one count of threatening a federal official, which carries a 10-year prison sentence. Additional charges may follow, the Justice Department said.
During a Sept. 29, 2021, call, Mr. Welton threatened to “just kill everyone” at Mr. Tillis’ Raleigh office, an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint said.
“Maybe I gotta go down there to 310 New Bern Avenue and just kill everybody I see … What I hear is I should fly back over there, walk into 310 New Bern Avenue and teach you what ‘Stand my Ground’ means, put a bullet through each of your heads,” the affidavit quotes Mr. Welton as saying.
Mr. Welton then asked, “how do we get this message through to Thom boy,” according to the affidavit.
He then finished the call by pledging to find the person sending the emails and “cut their (expletive) hands off and shove them up their (expletive),” the affidavit says
The complaint also claims that in October and November 2022, Mr. Welton began making phone threats against U.S. Marines and others working at the U.S. Consulate in Thailand.
In one voicemail, according to prosecutors, Mr. Welton said he was “going to kill a bunch of Marines” because he was angry over an immigration issue that the court papers did not specify.
Mr. Welton identified himself and gave an email address in several of the calls, according to court records.
FBI agents then interviewed Mr. Welton’s father in Iowa, who, court documents say, told agents that his son had been living in Thailand for 14 or 15 years, but briefly returned to the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The father told agents that his son was a socialist who was “set off by ideas he did not agree with.” Mr. Welton’s father said his son had even called the White House switchboard, according to the affidavit.
After listening to recordings of the Raleigh phone calls, the father told agents, “that could be Eric,” federal prosecutors said.
“Our elected representatives and the public servants who staff their offices must be free to do the people’s work without threats of violence,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
“Violent threats against our democratically elected representatives do not just erode our civil discourse – they can undermine our democracy. We will hold accountable anyone who threatens violence targeting our bedrock institutions,” he said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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