Secret Service Arrests Man For Threatening to Kill, Kidnap Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Oct 22, 2020 05:44 AM EDT

The Secret Service has arrested and charged a man after he threatened to kidnap and kill former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris.

As stated in the criminal complaint filed by the Secret Service on Wednesday, it said the man had left a handwritten note outside a Maryland residence with Biden-Harris signs in the yard.

The handwritten note details vividly the threats against the Democratic presidential bet, his running mate, and their supporters.

The man was identified after the resident's ring door camera recorded the suspect allegedly leaving the note at the home's doorstep, according to a The Hill report.

The Suspect

The suspect was identified as James Dale Reed, 42, from Maryland.

Reed allegedly wrote in the handwritten note to beat Biden until to "the point of death," while he will shoot Harris in the head with a Glock 17 pistol.

The letter also describes graphic sexual assault against Harris.Reed also extended the threat to Biden-Harris supporters.

The letter that Reed penned said that "we have a list" of the addresses from the look of the election signs. The letter did not specify who constitutes "we."

"We are the ones with these scary guns, we are the ones your children have nightmares about," Reed added in his letter. The Secret Service did not say any steps that Reed or anyone else took to take into action the alleged threat.

The agency followed Reed after an anonymous tip.Reed earlier denied writing the threatening note when he was first questioned on Oct. 13. He then admitted to writing it after a handwriting sample and providing elimination palm prints on Oct. 15.

Reed then told authorities that "this will happen," referring to the threats. He was charged with the federal offense of threatening a major candidate.

If found guilty, he would be punished by up to five years of prison time. Aside from the said federal offense, he was also charged with threatening mass violence and voter intimidation.

This was not the first time that Reed had a run-in with the law. In 2014, he came to the Secret Service's attention after threatening a person that the agency was protecting.

Meanwhile, the Biden campaign team has yet to respond to any request for comment on the issue.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert Hur said in a statement that they take these types of threats seriously.

"Conduct like this that threatens major candidates and fellow citizens only undermine our democracy and the principles upon which America was founded," Hur said in a CNN report.

Security Concerns

There are widespread security concerns surrounding the election.

Authorities in Alaska and Florida said on Tuesday that they are investigating threatening emails sent to Democratic voters, according to a Forbes report.

The said letters were reportedly from far-right extremist group Proud Boys. However, Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio told the Washington Post that they were not involved.

Harris was placed under Secret Service's protection after she was announced as Biden's running mate in August.

The former vice president was then put back into the agency's protection in March after he was removed from its wing in mid-2017.