FBI arrests woman for sending pictures of a mutilated body and threatening the family of election official who refused to certify Biden's win in Michigan
A New Hampshire woman has been arrested for sending pictures of a mutilated female body and threatening the family of a Michigan election official who refused to certify the results for Joe Biden.
Katelyn Jones, 23, is accused of calling Wayne County chairwoman Monica Palmer a 'racist b****' and a 'terrorist' after she refused to confirm the 878,000 votes from Michigan's largest county.
President Trump called Palmer on Tuesday November 17 after she revised her vote to express his gratitude for her support.
The threatening violence through interstate commerce charges against Jones stem from an FBI investigation probing the fallout from Trump's defeat in the election and unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud, the Detroit News reports.
Katelyn Jones, 23, was charged with threatening violence through interstate commerce in connection to the threats that were sent to Monica Palmer (middle pictured)
The election official received numerous threatening texts from an unknown person who used a cellphone number with a 269 area code.
'Damn it was not hard finding all of your information disgusting racist b***h,' one text read, according to a criminal complaint and an FBI affidavit. 'I don't tolerate people like you, in fact I consider you to be a terrorist and do you know what happens to terrorist.'
FBI Special Agent Emily Muchiando said in the affidavit: 'The messages were immediately followed by two graphic photographs of a bloody, deceased, nude, mutilated woman, lying on the ground.'
Palmer was slammed for refusing to certify and then attempting to rescind her vote to certify the close to 878,000 votes from Michigan's largest county
The number was traced back to the app TextMe Inc. Company records that showed a 269 number that was made 10 minutes before Palmer got her first threatening message.
FBI agents then tracked the IP address that was connected to the TextMe account, finding an IP address subscriber that matched the Olivet natives' mother, Linda Jones, according to the affidavit.
'Therefore, the account that used (269) xxx-xx68 that sent threatening text messages to was created at Linda Jones' residence,' Muchiando said in the report.
In addition to the text, Palmer was also sent threatening messages on her Instagram page on November 18 from a user named '@_etfere.' Palmer's address, phone number and her husband's phone number were shared by the user.
'Feel free to leave these disgusting racist a nice little message on their voicemail or for more fun stop by their house,' the post read.
'Racist terrorist b***h,' another post read.
In a separate post, that included a photo of Palmer and her family, the user shared: 'Your daughter is beautiful. I'd be a shame if something happened to her. Hmmm I'd be a shame if something happened to your daughter at school.'
The election official received numerous threatening texts from an unknown person who used a cellphone number with a 269 area code.
Muchiando concluded that the texts and the Instagram posts came from the same person as they used similar terms to describe the family.
'Both threatened harm to (Palmer's) daughter,' the agent wrote in the report.
Investigators discovered that the Instagram account was linked to a second account that featured photos of a woman. Photos of Jones on the account was matched with the picture from her Michigan driver's license, according to the affidavit.
The FBI began surveilling Jones on December 10, finding her at a home wearing blue hooded sweatshirt with a hood covering her face.
Jones' New Hampshire home was raided on Tuesday.
According to the affidavit, Jones admitted to creating the TextMe account.
She admitting to posting the threat because Palmer was 'interfering with the election,' according to Muchiando.