Several posts allegedly written by a man from Pennsylvania explicitly threatening law enforcement resulted in his arrest last Friday, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.
Adam Bies, 46, was arrested in Mercer, Pennsylvania, just days after the FBI conducted a raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, leading to what federal authorities warned was a rise in threats against law enforcement and government officials.
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Bies, allegedly writing under the username BlankFocus, posted several comments about “slaughtering” FBI officials and how “if you work for the FBI, then you deserve to DIE” on Gab, a social media platform, according to the complaint written by FBI special agent Gregg Frankhouser.
Several comments flagged were posted in the months prior to the FBI’s investigation of Bies and the Mar-a-Lago raid, but posts highlighted in the complaint spanned from Thursday to Friday, the complaint noted.
On or around Thursday, Bies’s alleged comments tipped off the MEMRI Domestic Terrorism Threat Monitor, which prompted the FBI to request the user’s contact information. Gab provided an email using the name Adam Campbell, which Bies allegedly said he uses so “corporate Murica’ can’t google me out of a job,” according to the complaint.
“Based on my background and experience, I believe that BIES was using the ‘Adam Campbell’ alias as a means of thwarting law enforcement as it related to his violent statements,” Frankhouser wrote in the complaint.
Bies allegedly acknowledged in another Aug. 11 post that his comments were threats, according to the complaint.
“I’m ready for the inevitable. Once you accept reality for what it is instead of what you want or to be, you can move on with your life and get prepared for the inevitable outcome. … My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop. I will not spend one second of my life in their custody,” Bies allegedly wrote on Gab, per the complaint.
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Frankhouser wrote in the complaint that he believes Bies was and continues to be willing to commit violence against law enforcement, even at the expense of his life. Bies appeared before a federal court on Monday and remains in custody pending a detention hearing, per a Department of Justice press release.
He “is charged with influencing, impeding, or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers,” according to the Justice Department release, and if he is convicted, he will serve “a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.” No lawyer is listed for Bies, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffery Bengel will be prosecuting, per the release.
Following the FBI raid on Trump’s private club, a man attempted to breach an FBI building in Cincinnati on Thursday. The suspect, who appears to have used social media accounts to talk about such things as saving ammunition and harming the FBI, was killed by law enforcement during an hourslong standoff later in the day, according to authorities.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued an internal memo on Friday to law enforcement agencies around the country warning of these increased threats.
