A home under construction in Aspen that was spray-painted on the outside with the words "Kill Obama" Tuesday was soon painted over that same day after the owner received a visit from the Secret Service.
Shortly after the sign appeared, Aspen Police said they began receiving complaints.
However the building's owner, Lee Mulcahy, who the Aspen Times has described as an artist and self-described Tea Party member "who's well known in local circles for his written, verbal and artistic attacks on government and big business," called police to tell them the building was vandalized and that he didn't write the words.
“We felt this was pretty serious -- anything that has to do with the president of the United States is serious, so we immediately contacted the Secret Service,” a community relations specialist for the Aspen Police told the Los Angeles Times.
That same day Aspen Police Officer Terry Leitch visited Mulcahy with a Secret Service agent.
“That might have shook him up a little bit,” Leitch said. “And while we were out there, he covered it up.”
Still, a lawyer who serves as counsel for the Colorado Press Association told news outlets that the message was a protected form of free speech, adding that it is a felony to make a "true threat" against the president of the United States.
Mulcahy painted over the sign, and Leitch said that the words were not considered to be a direct threat against the life of President Barack Obama.
Earlier this week, another man in California received a visit from Secret Service agents when he hung an Obama effigy from his tree as a "spooky Halloween decoration."