Feds: Indicted Man Had Been Warned About Threatening Emails

President Barack Obama speaks at a Human Rights Campaign event.
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We’re getting a few more details on John Gimbel, the California man we told you about Friday, who’s been charged for sending a racist, profanity-filled email that called for the death of President Obama and for the words “Fed shit” to be written on his chest — an apparent reference to the recent death of a Census Bureau worker in what seems to have been an act of anti-government violence.

This wasn’t the first such email Gimbel has sent, say the Feds. He fired off a similar one earlier last month, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Secret Service, and reported by the AP.

According to the complaint, Gimbel admitted to sending the first message when officers interviewed him at his home. He said his intention wasn’t to hurt Obama, but rather to get attention.

Gimbel was warned that he’d be prosecuted if he sent more messages. But apparently he couldn’t help himself.

And it sounds like the email messages aren’t the only evidence of Gimbel’s volatility. When authorities were seeking an arrest warrant, they asked to be allowed to enter Gimbel’s house without knocking, citing the facts that during an earlier arrest, he had been found by sheriff’s deputies with a loaded handgun, and that some of his earlier emails included threats against law enforcement.

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