A North Dakota man is accused of making death threats against Barack Obama and breaking into a National Park Service historic site, where he allegedly terrorized a worker with a fire poker, according to police.
Ian Patrick Stewart, 36, has been charged with felony burglary, damage to US property, terrorizing, malicious mischief, threatening to kill a former US president, and three counts of threatening interstate communications for his alleged crimes, according to his federal indictment.
Between April 20 and May 13, Stewart “knowingly and willfully” threatened to kill or injure the 44th president and at least three others. He ended his threat spree with a fire poker raid at Williston’s Fort Union Trading Post, according to local CBS affiliate KXNET.
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Stewart approached an employee at the fort, who reported him to police. According to KXNET, he used a fire poker to force her to leave the fort.
Authorities reportedly arrived and took Stewart into custody, but not before he allegedly threatened to “burn” the fort down and destroy the artifacts inside.
According to his federal indictment, Stewart entered the fort when it was closed and barricaded himself inside.
He is accused of making threats against Obama and three others via “interstate and foreign commerce email and telephone communications,” according to the indictment. The other people are all from Williston.
Stewart is set to go on trial in October. His bond amount was set at $50,000.
According to court records, Stewart was charged in Washington state last September with allegedly assaulting a highway patrol trooper during a traffic stop. He was also arrested in October for allegedly threatening to shoot a superior court judge, according to local media.
