SEK man charged after threatening Biden
A man from southeast Kansas has been charged after he allegedly made threats against President Biden.
The Department of Justice says 37-year-old Scott Ryan Merryman, of Independence, Kansas, faces federal charges of making threats against the President of the United States and interstate communication containing a threat to harm.
According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Merryman has made threats against the President of the United States and several United States Secret Service Agents and traveled from his home to Maryland.
The affidavit alleges that in a series of telephone calls on January 25 and January 26, 2022, Merryman advised law enforcement officers that he was en route to Washington, D.C. to see the President and that he was going to “cut the head off the snake in the heart of the nation.”
As detailed in the affidavit, during an in-person interview with a Secret Service agent on January 26, 2022, in Hagerstown, Maryland, Merryman allegedly reiterated his plans to travel to Washington, D.C. to “cut the head off the snake in the heart of the nation.”
During a consent search of Merryman, the agent found no weapons, but Merryman did have a loaded magazine containing three bullets that he was carrying on his person, and a spotting scope in his backpack.
Later that day, Merryman called the Secret Service agent with whom he had spoken in Kansas and told the agent that he had finished speaking with the agents that the Kansas agent “had sent for him and that they had given him the answer.” He told the Kansas agent that the agents in Hagerstown had told him “not to take the bullets to the White House,” then stated, multiple times, “I’m coming for you b***h.” The affidavit alleges that during the course of the conversation, Merryman also stated, “Well, I have a bullet with your name on it,” among other threats.
The affidavit includes a series of increasingly threatening messages Merryman allegedly posted on social media from January 25, 2022, through January 27, 2022.
In addition, the affidavit alleges that Merryman contacted the White House switchboard on January 27, 2022, and made threats against the President, using the same telephone number he used to contact the Kansas Secret Service agent.
Merryman allegedly stated the threats to a White House operator and to a Secret Service Special Agent to whom his call was referred.
If convicted, Merryman faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for making threats against the President of the United States and a maximum of five years in federal prison for interstate communication containing threats to harm.
A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.