A man accused of threatening violence against Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) workers responding to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina has been arrested, according to authorities.
William Jacob Parsons, 44, faces a charge of “going armed to the terror of the public” after his arrest in Rutherford county, the local sheriff’s office said in a news release on Monday.
The law enforcement agency added that Parsons had a rifle and handgun on him at the time of his arrest and was released later that evening on a $10,000 bond pending the resolution of the case.
The Rutherford sheriff’s office said initial reports that truckloads of “armed militia” had threatened Fema workers in the area were imprecise. “Parsons acted alone, and there were no truckloads of militia,” the sheriff’s office alleged.
After making landfall near Perry, Florida, on 26 September, Helene killed more than 200 people and inflicted devastation across a five-state region including North Carolina. A deluge of misinformation has met recovery efforts, including false conspiracy theories that the government manipulated the hurricane to force people off their land to clear the path for lithium mining – and that Fema diverted disaster relief to providing care for immigrants.
Parsons’s arrest came against that backdrop in the vicinity of Lake Lure and Chimney Rock in western North Carolina. The sheriff’s office said deputies encountered him after receiving a call that a man with an assault rifle had made a comment about “possibly harming Fema employees” working in its jurisdiction in the storm’s aftermath.
Deputies were able to later track down a car linked to Parsons – of Bostic, North Carolina – and jail him. The sheriff’s office did not report any injuries in connection with the threats attributed to Parsons or his arrest.
The reported threat prompted Fema to tell its workers in Rutherford county “to stand down and evacuate … immediately”, according to an email obtained by the Washington Post.
Fema later shared a statement with media outlets that confirmed it had “made some operational adjustments”, but the agency said: “Disaster recovery centers will continue to be open as scheduled, survivors continue to register for assistance, and we continue to help the people of North Carolina with their recovery.”
North Carolina’s governor, Roy Cooper, on Tuesday reportedly announced that Fema had paid out more than $99m of aid in the wake of Helene. Cooper also said the agency had assisted 1,900 people with temporary housing.
Parsons could serve up to 120 days in jail if he is convicted of going armed to the terror of the public, which is a first-class misdemeanor. A message left at a number associated with him was not immediately returned.
