U.S. federal prosecutors have charged a North Carolina man - who has a history of violence - with threatening to kill President Joe Biden, the Charlotte Observer reported Friday.
David Reeves, 27, of Gastonia was charged with threatening the president, a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina shows.
Authorities said Reeves, who lives with his father in Gastonia, was arrested Feb. 5 and appeared Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge David C. Keesler.
Prosecutors allege Reeves contacted the White House switchboard by telephone on several occasions between Jan. 28 and Feb. 1 in which he made threats to kill Biden and federal officials.
"I am going to come kill the (expletive) president...I'm going to (expletive) chop your heads off...I'm going to (expletive) kill the Secret Service because I own this whole planet," the Observer quoted Reeves as saying in a phone call to a Secret Service agent, court documents show.
Based on an affidavit supporting the criminal complaint, Reeves told the Secret Service agent that he had "free speech and did nothing wrong."
"Reeves has pleaded not guilty and is receiving appropriate mental health evaluations," his court-appointed lawyer assistant federal public defender Kevin Tate, said in an email to CNN.
Reeves isn't suspected of being involved in the riots at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6.
The charge of making threats against the president carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.
