John Gimbel, California Man, Charged With Threatening Obama

SAN FRANCISCO — A Northern California man remained in federal custody without bail Friday after being charged with sending racist, profanity-laced e-mail threatening to kill President Barack Obama and his family.

John Gimbel, 59, of Crescent City was arrested Oct. 6 by U.S. Secret Service officers and indicted two days before the president's Thursday appearances at a pair of Democratic fundraisers in the city.

He is accused of sending the message to Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, a Louisville newspaper and about 70 other people on Sept. 28.

Gimbel is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. Randall Davis, a defense lawyer assigned to serve as Gimbel's co-counsel because Gimbel wants to represent himself, said he expects him to plead not guilty.

"He contends he didn't violate the law" and only was exercising his free speech rights," Davis said.

The e-mail rambled on and included specific references to first lady Michelle Obama and the phrase, "do it to his children and family first in front of him. Failure to comply. That'll teach him," according to the indictment.

A similar e-mail was sent earlier in the month, according to a criminal complaint prepared by the Secret Service.

When officers interviewed Gimbel at his home, he admitted sending the first message but said he wanted to get attention, not hurt Obama, authorities said.

He was warned that he would be prosecuted if he sent any more.

The Secret Service listed a history of more volatile e-mails directed at President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the Crescent City police chief over the past two years.

In seeking an arrest warrant, authorities asked for permission to enter Gimbel's house without knocking because sheriff's deputies had found him with a loaded handgun during an earlier arrest and some of his e-mails included threats against law enforcement officers.

Comments

[BrickSykes]

Ever wonder why recent 'Wars' have been Undeclared? If we involve ourselves in undeclared 'Wars' seditionists like Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, ad naus, won't come under the statutes prohibiting treason. They have the 'Free Rein' they presently enjoy because they're only 'entertaining' and not trying to bring down his presidency or promote obstructionism among legislatures. Also, the Constitution clearly prohibits any form of 'profit taking' due to War.

I guess its a good thing they're merely 'Entertainers', huh?

Brick

[capitaldysfunction]

I'm blue eyed and white
And that's All Right
But man, there's some dumb white people out there

[Lee Andrew]

What part of Title 18 of the USC don't these people understand -- threatening a US Federal officer and in this case president is punishable by prison time and a hefty fine.

I also don't comprehend what part of SEDITION or TREASON the teabaggers don't understand.

And on a final note I truly do not understand what secessionist think. We fought a Civil War against very like minded individuals -- the"US" integrity will not be parted without war. That you can bank on.

--
Warmest regards,
Cordialement,

LeeAndrew

[privacyplease]

Is this John Gimbel Jr., son of the now deceased renowned history professor from HSU, Arcata? The age and hometown, if Arcata, are exactly right. I dated him briefly in the mid seventies before I decided he was elaborately paranoid and stopped seeing him. He started stalking me on campus, partially hiding behind sections of wall as if he didn't realize that if he could see me with one eye, I could see him. He gets a bee in his bonnet and for that reason, because President Obama has become the bee, I don't believe he will ever walk the streets again.

John had a great family--I met them. John was very bright, interesting, sweet, beautiful, pleasant--but unhinged. Not a good combination. He took to walking around with a baseball bat. Perhaps he felt he needed protection, but it was a disconcerting sight.

Is there a correlation between men who are completely disconnected from other people and a need to make a big awful splash--but perhaps in their own eyes, heroic-- as they jump from this world to whatever is beyond? Because he has certainly jumped from his old life.

Now he is not invisible anymore. Infamy is related to fame, an antidote for isolation. And until insanity is not a defense anymore, there is not a huge pressure to refrain from it, just my opinion. Please do not bring my post to his attention.

[amiri1]

This story should be repeated over and over again on the 24/7 news cycle to make sure these ignorant haters who really believe it is acceptable to threathen the 44th President of the USA know without a shadow of a doubt that it is illegal to threathen the president and the threats have harsh reprecussions.

It's not that I don't believe these nut jobs don't know there are reprecussion, I think that some of them are so accustomed to saying horrible things about people of color and society doesn't call them on it; therefore, they grow bolder and bolder in their hateful rhetoric.

[Dupree]

Part TWO

The air waves are subject to stipulations when the President is in the area....and there needs to be stipulations about carrying guns when he is in the area as well. It appears that the law is reluctant to impose ordinary legal restraints that they would have been enforced if it was another president. Perhaps I am being paranoid but I do not recall the relaxed nature of the laws when it involved previous administration and I am beginning to think that there is too much leniency when it comes to this particular President. Maybe it is just me....but I remember a shout out and punishment enacted against the Dixie Girls for doing far less.

[Dupree]

Part ONE

I am of the strong conviction that if the President of the United States is threatened, it is a crime. WE are not so ignorant that we do not know how to separate free speech from terrorist threats. When someone says that they do not like the president policies...that is their right to exercise free speech. However, when someone says that they would like to kill the president's wife and two kids in front of him and then kill him...it is a threat. There need to be made a distinction between free speech and downright evil violent intent to do harm. This man should NOT have been given a warning but a citation to appear in court the first time.

I do not understand what is going on in this country that permits citizens to show up at Town Hall meetings where the President is scheduled to speak...and they are sporting a loaded rifle or gun in clear view and nothing is done about it in the name of the "second amendment." We certainly does have a Constitutional framework in this country that needs to be protected at all times but not at the expense of applying common sense.

[akababs]

Free speech is not a license to threaten or to incite violence. This man and his ilk must be censored.

[thepoliticalcat]

NOT censored, but punished according to the provisions of Title 18 of the USC.

[akababs]

These threats are getting outrageous. Free speech has its limits. No one can yell "fire" in a crowded theater when there isn't one, just because he/she as the right of free speech. This man and others like him (Rush, Beck, Republicans) need to be reigned in before these remarks escalate to an actual assassination attempt. Free speech is not a license to kill.

[JFaye]

Unfortunately, those who are yelling fire are the suits in Congress... elected officials along with Steele, media pundits with extreme views against President Obama and our government. These people are culpable in stirring this hot plate of nuts.

[njgal4obama]

He was warned he would be prosecuted if he did it again?

He should have been prosecuted the first time.

Threatening the president isn't free speech. It's a criminal act.

[LJIESQ]

This nut is from Crescent City, the northern California town not far from the "State of Jefferson" area where members of the group seem to want all government eliminated. The guy should be permanently encarcerated in a mental ward. Now I ask you, would anyone with half a brain broadcast his intent to kill the President in an email that goes out to the list of registered voters?

[AnnArky]

My understanding is that Crescent City is one of the redneck sink-holes of California. Drove through there a couple of times, stopped once to have dinner with my family - that was an interesting mistake I'll never make again.

[privacyplease]

Coincidentally I have revisited Crescent City recently and although the town itself is no great shakes (although the people are friendly and helpful, and some amazing people live there), there are a good twenty beautiful scenic tidepool beaches, forest paths, and nature walks near Crescent City that are pristine and unusual. All that rainfall supports a quantity and variety of life that is so beautiful. Brookings Harbor, 20 mins north: go and watch the seagulls try to snatch the fish out of each pelican's mouth before it is safely swallowed; I've never seen so many pelicans in one place. Or Pelican Bay, itself, that the prison is named for: grandeur. Castle Rock, Endert's Road Lookout, Prairie Creek State Park, Pebble Beach, Rainbow Rock, Hidden Beach, Point St. George, Jed Smith National Park, Battery Point, Hiouchi Trail, Whaleshead Beach and Trails, Lake Earl and Tolowa Dunes,Wilson Creek Beach, Indian Sands State Park (sooo gorgeous--an ancient beach, turned to sandstone, then thrust above cliffs, now reverting to sand dunes, which bloom in Indian Paintbrush in the spring), really the whole coast north of Arcata--Clam Beach, Moonstone Beach, Trinidad Head, Patrick's Point, Prairie Creek, beach by Fern Canyon, Big Lagoon, Dry Lagoon, is different shades of spectacular, and even more so as you enter Crescent City, and Oregon. That's my plug for the North Coast, and Crescent City area. Beaten paths are just that--you've gotta get off 'em and see the sights!

[JFaye]

With elected nuts yelling out in a Joint Session of Congress to the President of the United States "you lie," the voting nuts are embolden to act with such foolishness.... and they call it free speech. Freedom comes with responsibility and cost ...

[FantasticFourFan]

Wants to serve as his own defense. Oh good, that always turns out so well! So, has Whirled Nutz Daily or anybody else come to his defense yet?

[thepoliticalcat]

A man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client, as the common wisdom has it.

[lovethesinner]

I live less than seventy miles from Crescent City, Ca. The times I've driven through town I've thought, "who the... would live here?" Seriously, some towns should be quarantined. They breed craziness.

I'm glad the Secret Service is on the job, and appreciate the great work they do. It's a tough job, and it's not about to get any easier with the way people like Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and the other incendiary talking heads keep stirring the pot.

[squatmunkie]

lol. I live in TX I know just what you mean by those small towns...Its scary at times just to drive through them, or go into a local store.

[DnDCfromChi-town]

He should be sent away for a very long time!!! Goodbye John Gimbel



“It is a stupid goose that listens to the fox preach”
French Proverb

[Dave24]

Jail.