On Friday, a Texas man became the first to be arrested by the U.S. Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force since its creation in June 2021.
Chad Christopher Stark, 54, of Leander, TX, was charged for allegedly “sending threatening election-related communications” to government officials in Georgia.
The indictment alleges that Stark posted a message to Craigslist around January 5, 2021, saying it was “time to kill” a Georgia official whose name was not revealed.
“Georgia Patriots, it’s time for us to take back our state from these Lawless treasonous traitors. It’s time to invoke our Second Amendment right; it’s time to put a bullet in the treasonous Chinese [Official A]. Then we work our way down to [Official B], the local and federal corrupt judges,” the indictment alleges that Stark wrote.
Stark allegedly referenced three government officials whose names were redacted in court documents.
“It’s our duty as American Patriots to put an end to the lives of these traitors and take back our country by force; we can no longer wait on the corrupt law enforcement in the corrupt courts. If we want our country back, we have to exterminate these people,” he allegedly continues in the message.
“One good loyal Patriot deer hunter in camo and a rifle can send a very clear message to these corrupt governors. Militia up, Georgia, it’s time to spill blood … we need to pay a visit to [Official C] and her family as well and put a bullet her (sic.) behind the ears,” the indictment says, quoting from the Craigslist message.
Election officials across the country have been the targets of a flood of threatening messages since the 2020 election. A June 2021 study by the nonprofit Brennan Center found that one in three election officials felt unsafe due to their jobs, and one in five said that being the recipient of a threat was a job-related concern.
“It’s bigger than any one individual threat against one election official because the combined atmosphere of threats across the country to election officials is undermining democracy,” Mary McCord told the Washington Post.
McCord is the executive director at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law and a former Justice Department national security official.
Georgia officials, specifically, have been targeted by hostile messages after they refused to back former President Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud. Trump himself called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) an “enemy of the people” and ordered Raffensperger in a recorded call to “find 11,780 votes because [Trump had] won the state.”
“The intimidation of those in charge of carrying out free and fair elections in this country is against the law and cannot go unchecked,” said U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine for the Northern District of Georgia in a Justice Department announcement. “When someone threatens an election official working at any level of the voting process – whether that be an elected office holder or a volunteer poll worker – our democracy is put in jeopardy.”
Stark was arrested in Travis County and will make his initial court appearance in the federal courthouse of Austin. However, the FBI’s Atlanta office is investigating and prosecuting the case.
Despite the wave of threatening messages election officials received following the 2020 election, Stark is the first and only person arrested so far by the task force launched on June 25.
Stark is charged with one count of communicating interstate threats, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.