Man Arrested For Allegedly Threatening To ‘Kidnap’ And ‘Burn’ Ted Cruz And His Father

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

A Texas man is in jail over allegations that he threatened to burn Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his father unless the senator paid him $3 million, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday.

Thirty-seven year-old Neil Gates has been charged with making a terrorist threat and is being held in a county jail under a $10,000 bail.

According to the arrest warrant obtained by the Chronicle, an intern in Cruz’s Austin office told investigators that a man called the office in June 5, saying the senator “owed him money or a bomb would explode.” Gates, who identified himself as Abolfazi Akbori, called a few times and left threatening voicemails, in one of which he said that he would “kidnap, murder, and burn Ted Cruz and his father…Ted has a choice. Give me three million dollars or lose the sun.”

Investigators were able to track Gates down because he used his home phone and when they asked him if he had any firearms he responded: “Aren’t Texans allowed to possess firearms?”

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: