Kevin Brent Buchanan, 62, of Tooele, Utah, United States is accused of threatening a Palestinian rights organization based in Washington, D.C., USA. Between October 31, 2023 and November 2, 2023, he called the organization and left at least five voice messages.
With an American Express card issued to him, Buchanan bought a burner phone at a Walmart in Tooele and used it to call the organization, which was not identified. The organization had planned a public demonstration on November 4, 2023 to advocate for Palestinian rights.
The organization contacted its sister organization American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee (ADC) to ask for help in reaching the Federation Bureau of Investigation. On November 1, 2023, ADC contacted the FBI.
On the same day, the FBI requested and received emergency situation disclosure information about the phone number from its carrier Verizon. The mobile network revealed that the phone number’s provider was TracPhone Wireless.
On November 2, 2023, the FBI obtained business records from Walmart and American Express. Based on these information, the bureau identified Buchanan as the person who called the Washington, D.C.-based Palestinian rights organization.
“You’re a threat to me and my family but you know what?” Buchanan said in part in a voice message he left that day. “Your families are going to be followed and watched. Every time you have a meeting, we are going to infiltrate your organization.”
“(I) know who your families are, your mothers, your fathers, your sisters, brothers and so forth and so forth,” Buchanan continued. “I would be deathly afraid if I were you. You are all going to f—–g die, you pieces of s–t traitors. You don’t even belong in America.”
On November 17, 2023, Buchanan was arrested in Tooele and charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a communication containing a threat to injure the person of another. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine not to exceed $250,000.
On November 20, 2023, ADC national executive director Abed A. Ayoub told The Daily Beast they welcome the fact that the FBI is taking action “especially given the heightened tensions that we’re seeing”. He added, “We need to take all threats seriously.”
CONAN Daily 