A 33-year-old Cambridge man pleaded not guilty yesterday to offering a $500 bounty on Twitter to anyone who would kill a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) September 7, 2018
A crime punishable by $250,000 fine, 5 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release.https://t.co/n7Ef9GOejX
ICE HSI Boston, US Attorney, FBI announce arrest for contract killing threat of ICE agent via Twitter https://t.co/aSAyD3y3yt pic.twitter.com/jHptTA7Om8— ICE (@ICEgov) August 10, 2018
ICE Newsroom
written by Staff
Thursday August 9, 2018
BOSTON — A Cambridge, Massachusetts man who online called for the contract killing of an ICE agent was arrested Thursday following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI.
Peter C. Fitzhugh, HSI Boston special agent in charge, joined U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew E. Lelling and Harold H. Shaw, special agent in charge, of the FBI Boston to announce the arrest of a Massachusetts man Thursday in connection with the tweeting of a murder-for-hire solicitation to kill ICE agents for $500. The charges grew out of a Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation that will now be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts.
Brandon J. Ziobrowski, 33, was charged in an indictment unsealed Thursday with one count of use of interstate and foreign commerce to transmit a threat to injure another person. Ziobrowski was arrested Aug. 9 in New York and will appear in Boston at a later date.
According to court documents, in 2009 Ziobrowski created a Twitter account registered under the username @Vine_II. Ziobrowski is alleged to have begun posting tweets that promoted violence against law enforcement in February 2018 and specifically against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and officers in March 2018. On March 1, 2018, in response to a tweet from an ICE Field Office Director stating that ICE officers put their “lives on the line to arrest criminal aliens,” Ziobrowski posted a message that read: “Thank you ICE for putting your lives on the line and hopefully dying I guess so there’s less of you?”
On July 2, 2018, Ziobrowski allegedly tweeted: “I am broke but will scrounge and literally give $500 to anyone who kills an ice agent. @me seriously who else can pledge get in on this let’s make this work.” It is alleged that Ziobrowski’s tweet was designed as a threat to encourage violence and the murder of federal law enforcement agents. At the time of the tweet, Ziobrowski had 448 Twitter followers.
While conducting searches of the Internet for any domestic and international terrorism threats. the Department of Homeland Security’s Current and Emerging Threats Center in Washington, D.C., found Ziobrowski’s July 2, 2018 tweet and disseminated an alert to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies throughout the country, including ICE field offices.
“Threats to law enforcement, no matter how they are communicated, are never taken lightly. The fact that this death threat was communicated over social media does not in any way diminish the seriousness of the threat, nor the danger posed by the individual who made it,” said Fitzhugh. “Not only do these threats not intimidate the men and women of the agency, they only serve to strengthen our determination in carrying out the mission that we have been solemnly sworn to uphold."
The Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation into the threats utilized a wide range of tools that HSI employs to investigate crimes, including the analysis of investigative leads verified through a team of highly-trained HSI special agents and intelligence analysts specially trained in investigating cyber related crimes.
The investigation was conducted with the assistance of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston and New York and with assistance from Texas Department of Public Safety; it will be prosecuted by the Office of U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew E. Lelling.
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) August 9, 2018NBC News: Brandon Ziobrowski, age 33, from Cambridge, MA has been arrested and charged with making an interstate threat.
According to the indictment Ziobrowski offered to pay $500 to anyone who would kill an ICE agent.
Press conference at 11:30am in Boston.
FULL STORY HERE: https://t.co/V6Wbb4RwEk— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) August 9, 2018
NBC News
written by Tom Winter and Joe Valiquette
Thursday August 9, 2018
A Boston-area man has been arrested by federal agents in New York after threatening U.S. immigration agents on Twitter.
Brandon Ziobrowski, 33, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was arrested Thursday morning after posting on Twitter in July that he would give $500 to anyone who would kill an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent.
According to the indictment, Ziobrowski had previously tweeted his desire to "slit" Sen. John McCain's throat. Starting in February, he began to post tweets promoting violence against law enforcement.
In March he began tweeting threatening messages about ICE, according to the indictments.
On July 2, he tweeted: "I am broke but I will scrounge and literally give $500 to anyone who kills an ice agent. @me seriously who else can pledge get it on this let's make it work."
His Twitter account was suspended later that month at the request of law enforcement.
The case was developed by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston, and Ziobrowksi was arrested in New York at 7:15 a.m.
"I can promise you that during my tenure this office will aggressively prosecute those who threaten law enforcement officers," said U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.
"Enough is enough," said Hank Shaw, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston field office. "This case presents the violent potential faced by federal law enforcement officers."
He is expected to make his first appearance in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday and will face a charge of using interstate commerce to transmit a threat to injure another.
— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) August 9, 2018fyi @SeanMcElwee it is:
a felony, a crime, against the law, to offer money to MURDER a person.
a felony, a crime, against the law, to hire a hit man to MURDER a person.
As you had to be shown, it is against the law to EVEN JOKE ABOUT IT because MURDER IS NOT AN F-G JOKE. https://t.co/tu2PBFK12r
Remember this next time you hear a Democrat say Democrats are not advocating that ICE be abolished. The Dems disrespect law enforcement. Period.— Global Awareness 101 (@Mononoke__Hime) August 31, 2018
Cuomo Declares ICE As ‘Thugs’ At New York Gubernatorial Debate.https://t.co/Axa5YEVSVX
.@SenGillibrand and other Democrats support #AbolishICE.#AbolishICE vandalizes GOP offices, instructs people to sabaotge @ICEgov facilities, and solicits the murder of @ICEgov agents. pic.twitter.com/mO1L4vBA5H— Far Left Watch (@FarLeftWatch) August 10, 2018
@SenGillibrand has been an EPIC FAIL for NY. She said she wants to abolish @ICEgov &”reimagine” it ๐คจ Putting every law abiding citizen at risk. This is dangerous rhetoric! A change is over due. ELECT @CheleFarley for Senate. #lilbulli๐บ๐ธ❤️ pic.twitter.com/LMFNQdBZwU— Tracy (@lilbulli1031) September 14, 2018
.@SenGillibrand’s liberal supporters on @NYCCouncil back her plan to #AbolishICE. I will fight the radicals in Washington & make sure that #ICE is empowered to do their job: remove violent criminals who are here illegally from our neighborhoods. https://t.co/27NYeVMkrX— Chele Farley (@CheleFarley) September 13, 2018
I am touring the ICE immigration center in Florida....YES children are being mistreated. EVERYONE PLEASE RETWEET! https://t.co/EwuySMmqKD— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) September 7, 2018
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