DETROIT — A man from the Adrian area accused of threatening to kill members of state government was indicted Thursday and could face more severe punishment because a federal grand jury alleges he intentionally targeted Jewish politicians.
The indictment of Tipton resident Jack Eugene Carpenter III, 41, was filed eight days after Carpenter was charged in the most recent incident involving alleged extremism targeting public officials and members of the Jewish community. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has said she was among those targeted by Carpenter.
Carpenter was indicted on one count of transmitting an interstate threat, a crime that carries a maximum five-year federal prison sentence. The indictment includes a special finding that Carpenter "intentionally selected Jewish members of the Michigan government as the objects of his threat...because of the actual and perceived religion of those individuals. ..."
Carpenter is being held without bond in the Livingston County Jail.
There were no public officials identified in the case against Carpenter, but FBI agents 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.
Antisemitic incidents have been on the rise across the country. The Anti-Defamation League noted 257 incidents of white supremacy propaganda in Michigan in 2022, a large increase over the 150 incidents in 2021, according to a Thursday release and interactive map by the ADL.
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 Thursday 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 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."
Carpenter's mother told investigators her son had three handguns, a shotgun and two rifles, and was driving a 2015 green Ford Fusion.
On Feb. 18, investigators traced his cell phone 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.
