Florida man threatens to kill Obama on Facebook, faces 5 years in prison

This article was originally published on Examiner.com on May 24, 2012.

20 year old Joaquin Amador Serrapio Jr is facing 5 years in federal prison for threatening the life of PresidentBarack Obama back in February, to which he has now plead guilty. The date of sentencing for the single felony charge of threatening to kill or harm the president is set for August 22nd.

My research reveals that Serrapio considers himself a musician and has an official Facebook page with a small following. The only post from Serrapio was created November 30, 2010 that linked to a YouTube account that has been deleted. The email address “[email protected]” is asked to be used for bookings. It seems at this time, however, that the only ‘booking’ going on will be Serrapio being booked into prison.

Serrapio has declined to comment on the matter, likely because of his lawyer’s advice. Investigators have said that they do not believe Serrapio was ever a genuine threat to President Barack Obama and instead have concluded that, “He just wanted to get a reaction from political supporters of President Barack Obama.”

A self described, “republican conservative” Serrapio pined on his MySpace page that, “i’m cool. I am a republican conservative. And currently doing mixed martial arts.So if you’d ever pull a knife or a gun on me on the street, id laugh in your face…Seriously.”

Overall two threatening messages were posted on Facebook. The first message in question that was posted February 21st said, “Who wants to help me assassinate Obummer while hes at UM this week?” This was two days before President Obama was to give a speech at the University of Miami.

On the day of the speech Serrapio again put out another message this time asking, “If anyones going to UM to see Obama today, get ur phones out and record. Cause at any moment im gonna put a bullet through his head and u don’t wanna miss that! Youtube!”

It is not known who contacted the authorities because of these threats, but at least one individual contacted the Coral Gables police department, and then two secret service agents were dispatched to Serrapio’s front door.

For all of Serrapio’s tough talk, he lives at home with his mother. She agreed to allow agents to search her home. Agents located an iPad where a friend had warned Serrapio that his rantings online were illegal. They said, “”LOL you can get in trouble for sayin’ that” but Serrapio paid them no mind and said he was challenging the Secret Service and gushed, “I wanna kill at least two of them when they get here.”

The statements made about wanting to kill agents is also a crime, of which Serrapio was originally charged but will not be sentenced for in a plea deal made with authorities. The only weapons found in Serrapio’s possession were two pellet guns.

Freedom of speech does not mean one is free from the consequences of their speech. Joaquin Amador Serrapio has learned that lesson the hard way, and will be behind federal prison bars when he celebrates being legally old enough to buy alcohol.