A South Texas man was sentenced on Monday to two years in federal prison after making online threats to bomb a Federal Reserve building, according to authorities.
Joel Hayden Schrimsher had pleaded guilty on Aug. 24 to conveying false or misleading information through the internet concerning the potential destruction of a federal building.
Schrimsher, 19, was arrested after federal authorities in June 2019 traced to him threats made on Twitter in which he had said, "I'm gonna mail a bomb to the Federal Reserve."
Authorities said Schrimsher acknowledged to making a tweet about bombing and damaging a Federal Reserve building and claiming he was being "edgy" when he made the threats.
During a court hearing on Monday, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez said that Schrimsher had precursor chemicals and bomb making recipes in his bedroom in Harlingen at the time he made the threats.
"The FBI and our law enforcement partners take threats of violence very seriously," said Christopher Combs, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Antonio office.
