A Virginia man has been charged with making online threats to the mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in an attempt to pressure him against allowing President Trump’s June 20 rally in the city.
Adam Maxwell Donn, 40, of Norfolk, Virginia, was charged with cyberstalking, federal authorities announced Friday.
According to documents, Mayor G.T. Bynum and his family received 44 emails and 14 phone calls from June 11 through June 22, which federal prosecutors say “were meant to harass, annoy, threaten and intimate Bynum and his family.”
“Mr. Donn allegedly sent a series of harassing emails and voicemails in an effort to intimidate the mayor into canceling the presidential rally that occurred here in June,” U.S. Attorney Trent Shores said in a statement. “Cyberstalkers try to hide behind keyboards while they threaten and intimidate others, but their online actions have real world effects. Mr. Donn will now face the real world consequences for his alleged criminal actions. As we do in all cases, our victim coordinators will work with the mayor and his family as this case proceeds in federal court.”
Court documents allege that Donn threatened to publish the Bynum family’s home address and personal information to the internet, including the children’s cell phone numbers and social media accounts. In a June 19 message, the day before the rally, Donn “allegedly stated he hoped Bynum’s family contracted Covid-19 and hoped the family suffered,” according to a Department of Justice press release.
Donn, at one point, reportedly threatened to show up to Bynum’s next bible study and emailed Bynum’s wife’s colleagues via her business website and made threatening remarks.
Bynum reported the emails and calls to the Tulsa Police Department on June 18.
Federal authorities were able to tie the messages to Donn after “investigators found that the emails were linked to an IP address traced to a Cox Communications account holder named Adam Donn of Norfolk, Virginia.”
Donn has been released under the pretrial supervision of the U.S. Probation Office and is scheduled to appear in federal court on July 22 in the Northern District of Oklahoma.
Days before the rally, Bynum said it was a “tremendous honor” to host the president’s first rally since the coronavirus pandemic began but expressed worry regarding the safety of the event.
“Any rational person looking at any large grouping of people would have concerns about this weekend,” Bynum said, as is the case with “any large gathering.”
