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Man held in Fla. on charge of threatening Obama

UTOC-45-44

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080807/ap_on_el_pr/obama_threat



MIAMI - A man who authorities said was keeping weapons and military-style gear in his hotel room and car appeared in court Thursday on charges he threatened to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Raymond Hunter Geisel, 22, was arrested by the Secret Service on Saturday in Miami and was ordered held at Miami's downtown detention center without bail Thursday by a federal magistrate.
A Secret Service affidavit charges that Geisel made the threat during a training class for bail bondsmen in Miami in late July. According to someone else in the 48-member class, Geisel allegedly referred to Obama with a racial epithet and continued, "If he gets elected, I'll assassinate him myself."

Obama was most recently in Florida on Aug. 1-2 but did not visit the South Florida area.

Another person in the class quoted Geisel as saying that "he hated George W. Bush and that he wanted to put a bullet in the president's head," according to the Secret Service.

Geisel denied in a written statement to a Secret Service agent that he ever made those threats, and the documents don't indicate that he ever took steps to carry out any assassination. He was charged only with threatening Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, but not for any threat against President Bush.

Geisel's court-appointed attorney declined comment. The charge of threatening a major candidate for president or vice president carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.

The Obama campaign declined comment Thursday on the alleged threat.

In the interview with a Secret Service agent, Geisel said "if he wanted to kill Senator Obama he simply would shoot him with a sniper rifle, but then he claimed that he was just joking," according to court documents.

A search of Geisel's 1998 Ford Explorer and hotel room in Miami uncovered a loaded 9mm handgun, knives, dozens of rounds of ammunition including armor-piercing types, body armor, military-style fatigues and a machete. The SUV, which has Maine license plates, was wired with flashing red and yellow emergency lights.

Geisel told the Secret Service he was originally from Bangor, Maine, and had been living recently in a houseboat in the Florida Keys town of Marathon, according to court documents. He said he used the handgun for training for the bail bondsman class, had the knives for protection and used the machete to cut brush in Maine.

Authorities in Maine said Geisel pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal threatening after a 2007 incident and spent 48 hours in a Bangor jail.

Police in Hampden, a town just outside of Bangor, received a complaint from Geisel's brother on Oct. 18, 2007 that Geisel had threatened him with a knife, Hampden police Sgt. Dan Stewart said. Geisel was charged with criminal threatening and terrorizing; the second charge was later dropped.

The Secret Service affidavit said Geisel told agents that he suffered from psychiatric problems including post-traumatic stress disorder, but he couldn't provide the names of any facilities where he sought treatment.
 

rodbender

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Yep, He should have kept that stuff to himself. But as I read it, he never threatened anyone. He said IF he gets elected. To me, that's conditional and therefore is not really a threat. They should have kept tabs on him and then picked him up IF Obama gets elected. Or possibly picked him up to let him know that they are aware of his statements and would be keeping an eye on him. As far as what he said about Bush, saying you would like to do something is no indicator that youWILL make an attempt to carry it out.
 

deepdiver

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UTOC-45-44 wrote:
deepdiver wrote:
People are just stupid. :banghead:

Double D, which people ?



TJ
Geisel. I can't believe that someone in this day and age wouldn't know that making such a comment semi-publicly would draw attention and might get you in trouble. Just 100 years ago publicly threatening someones life gave the possible victim a strong affirmative defense for just killing the threatener on sight. The gov't takes that stuff really seriously now, especially if you have the means and knowledge to carry out such a threat. Obviously Geisel didn't learn anything the last time he was arrested for threatening someone.
 

thx997303

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I can only imagine that he's not the only one with that idea.

Others are probably less vocal.

Of course I'm not advocating anything.
 

Evil Ernie

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GASP!!! He had "dozens" of rounds?!?!?! The entire state must be under siege with that arsenal!!!!

I think the guy was dumb as hell for even vocalizing his opinion (I'm all for voicing opinions, but there are some things better left unsaid in certain company) and the law for blowing things out of porportion (what else is new...).
 

eyesopened

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The stupid loudmouthones are normally the harmless ones. The ones you have to worry about are the ones who are smart enough to keep their mouths shut...
 

Huck

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"A search of Geisel's 1998 Ford Explorer and hotel room in Miami uncovered a loaded 9mm handgun, knives, dozens of rounds of ammunition including armor-piercing types, body armor, military-style fatigues and a machete"

So what are "armor piercing types" of bullets? I'll bet the cop who made that statement could'nt answer that question. Hell, mosthigh velocity FMJ bullets will defeat body armor, they dont need to be anything specially made for the purpose.

And "Military-style fatigues"? Are there any other style of fatigues?
 

usSiR

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There is lots of people that say things close to that about him and other people that have ran for president or were president, that don't really mean it or would ever do it.

He may have said that thinking the person he was talking to would be on the same page as him, seeing what kind of environment they were in and Obama is pretty much anti 2A, but just got carried away in his words. Then the person hearing it took it literally

Maybe he was serious :?

If any of us were to say something like that or remotely close about any government official, the LEO's would come to ours homes and find weapons and "military style" stuff too.

Just watch what you say... if you don't like a person don't say things that can be construed as a threat
 

usSiR

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Huck wrote:
"A search of Geisel's 1998 Ford Explorer and hotel room in Miami uncovered a loaded 9mm handgun, knives, dozens of rounds of ammunition including armor-piercing types, body armor, military-style fatigues and a machete"

So what are "armor piercing types" of bullets? I'll bet the cop who made that statement could'nt answer that question. Hell, mosthigh velocity FMJ bullets will defeat body armor, they dont need to be anything specially made for the purpose.

And "Military-style fatigues"? Are there any other style of fatigues?

Well.... lets see.... Oh yeahhe was taking a class where such a person might want to have that stuff. I would expect him to have that stuff.

Armor piercing??? Did they use a magnet to see if the had a steel core?But again I would expect him to have that stuff...
 

tarzan1888

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usSiR wrote:
......If any of us were to say something like that or remotely close about any government official, the LEO's would come to ours homes and find weapons and "military style" stuff too.

Just watch what you say... if you don't like a person don't say things that can be construed as a threat

We need to watch what we say AND post on Internet forums.



Tarzan
 

Task Force 16

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Did you notice that they aren't holding him for stating that he "wanted to put a bullet in Bush's head"? What's up with that? It's OK to want to assassinate President Bush (a Republican), but not ok to threaten a Democratic Presidential Candidate?

Oh that's right, Obama is the "Messiah". ;)

COncidering his history in Maine, this guy sounds like a walking time bomb anyway.
 
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