A New York man implicated a former roommate in a fake plot to assassinate the president, allegedly because he never approved of the former roommate dating someone he knew.
Juan Medina called 911 in August to tell them that his former roommate was on his way to New York with an AR-14 and an AK-47 to kill the president, according to a Department of Justice press release.
Dozens of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers launched a multi-state search for the alleged assassin, traveling to the former roommate’s home in New Haven, Conn. and to the New York area.
Secret Service agents interviewed the neighbors of the man identified as carrying out a plot against the president, and eventually located him and his vehicle. Agents learned that the man they believed to be their target was identified by a friend of his girlfriend, Juan (presumably referring to Medina), and he believed it might actually Medina was behind the call.
Agents traveled to the home of the former roommate’s girlfriend in Yonkers, where Juan Medina answered the door. Medina said that he disliked his former roommate, but at the time claimed he did not make the phone call about an assassination plot.
Agents say Medina denied making the call once more before admitting that he fabricated the assassination plot.
He then told the Secret Service that he made the original 911 call on a prepaid burner phone, and then sold the phone to someone on the street. Medina told authorities that he made the call because he disapproved of the relationship between his former roommate and the girlfriend.
Medina was charged with making false statements to federal authorities and faces up to five years in prison.
