DETROIT — A man accused of threatening to kill Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and other Jewish members of state government agreed Friday to be held without bond while awaiting trial in federal court.
Tipton resident Jack Eugene Carpenter III, 41, consented to detention during an appearance in federal court in Detroit, two days after being charged in the latest federal criminal case in Michigan involving extremism and antigovernment views. He is being held in the Livingston County Jail.
Carpenter was charged after FBI agents say they found threats on his Twitter account to "carry out the punishment of death to anyone that is jewish (sic) in the Michigan" government, according to the unsealed criminal case. The threats were sent through his Twitter account @tempered_reason, prosecutors allege.
Carpenter is charged with transmitting an interstate threat, a crime that carries a maximum five-year federal prison sentence. His court-appointed lawyer, Jean Pierre Nogues III, did not respond immediately to a message seeking comment Friday.
After prosecutors filed the criminal case, Nessel tweeted that she was targeted by Carpenter.
Antisemitic incidents have been on the rise across the country. The Anti-Defamation League noted 220 incidents of white supremacy propaganda through November in Michigan compared with 150 in 2021, ADL Michigan Regional Director Carolyn Normandin told The Detroit News. Antisemitic incidents in Michigan in 2021 totaled a record 112; 2022 figures could surpass them, Normandin said.
The investigation against Carpenter started with a tip in mid-February after the FBI office in Detroit received screenshots from the Twitter account.
The account included tweets declaring the creation of a new sovereign country called "New Israel" was formed on land that included a home in Tipton, about 10 miles north of Adrian in Lenawee County.
The Twitter account was still active Friday and included a Feb. 17 tweet that accused unidentified Jewish public officials of waging an "unlawful war of aggression using a biological weapon against me."
Investigators discovered Carpenter lived at the home and had a valid restraining order against him filed last month and a recent arrest for assault. A review showed Carpenter also had three handguns registered to him.
Carpenter also was under investigation by Michigan State Police for stealing a handgun, according to the criminal case. A trooper had learned from Carpenter's mother that Carpenter was returning to Michigan soon and that he was angry. She shared Carpenter's Twitter account and screenshot of a Feb. 18 post.
"I'll be coming back to Michigan, still driving with expired plates," the post reads. "You may want to let everyone know, and Wayne County sheriff (sic) as well, any attempt to subdue me will be met with deadly force in self-defense."
There were other threats issued through the Twitter account, including one vow to execute billionaire Elon Musk.
Carpenter's mother told investigators her son had three handguns, a shotgun and two rifles, and was driving a 2015 green Ford Fusion.
His mother declined comment when contacted by The Detroit News.
On Feb. 18, investigators traced his cellphone to a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. Jail records show he was held in two facilities late last month after being arrested and detained in Fort Worth.
There have been other cases involving threats targeting public officials in Michigan in recent years.
Seven people have been convicted on state or federal charges related to a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. An eighth person, FBI informant Stephen Robeson, was convicted of a federal gun crime.
