A Maryland man was arrested Tuesday on charges that he made bomb threats against leaders of an immigrant advocacy group that operates a day labor center in Silver Spring.
Detectives said 34-year-old Wesley James Queen II, of Pasadena, used his cell phone May 18 to leave back-to-back voicemail messages at the Casa de Maryland offices and to organization spokesman Mario Quiroz. In both calls, police said, he warned Casa officials to not be surprised when their facility “blows up.”
The telephone number of the caller was left on the voicemail system, and investigators traced the call to Queen’s cell phone, according to charging documents.
Queen was charged with two felony counts of making bomb threats and two counts of telephone misuse. He faces up to 10 years in prison for each threat. He remained in custody Tuesday on $250,000 bail.
Queen has no affiliation with any hate group listed in the FBI’s database, according to Montgomery County spokeswoman Officer Melanie Brenner.
But Kerry O’Brien, spokeswoman for Casa, worried that Queen might be working with other groups espousing “anti-immigration sentiments.”
Brad Botwin, of Help Save Maryland, a group that vocally opposes Casa, said he has never heard of Queen.
“We don’t support Queen’s actions, or any others that threaten violence,” Botwin said.
Over the summer, Casa de Maryland released both tapes of the telephone threats, including a third one left with Casa board member the Rev. Simon Bautista, in which a similar-sounding male voice hurled racial insults and said, “Don’t be surprised if there is a [expletive] bullet in the back of your [expletive] brain, for being so [expletive] stupid and helping illegals.”
D.C. police and prosecutors were assigned to investigate the threat to Bautista because the call was to a Washington number, Casa officials said.
Casa officials said they often get harassed for helping illegal immigrants.
Last year, an arsonist set fire to the Derwood day labor center, but police never found the culprit.
Staff Writer Freeman Klopott contributed to this story.
