*WARNING: This story contains graphic content along with vulgar, racist and discriminatory language. Reader discretion is advised.*
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – “You people had better wake up.”
“I will make a lot of noise with or without you.”
Those are some of the milder messages included among death threats and racial slurs a man allegedly sent to agencies ranging from Fort Wayne Police to the CIA, according to newly released U.S. District Court documents.
Jeffrey Stevens, 41, faces a federal charge of communicating a threat in interstate commerce. And while he allegedly admitted to death threats directed at Fort Wayne’s Jewish population – as well as threats against the CIA in which he allegedly said he was so confident in his stance that he gave the CIA his own phone number – he blamed the posts on a drinking problem, according to court documents.
According to court documents, someone reported Stevens to the FBI National Threat Operations Center on Oct. 13, saying Stevens had made several “concerning Facebook posts” following the Hamas attack on Israel a few days earlier.
One of those posts allegedly written by Stevens read “Death to the Zionist”.
An investigator noted in court documents three Facebook accounts were linked to Stevens, one of which had the screen name “Zayed Stevens” and another called “The Ishmael Report”, the latter of which was uncovered during an FBI investigation earlier that year.
In September, Stevens allegedly posted on the CIA’s public website in which he identified himself as a journalist covering conflict in the Middle East. That post was traced back to an IP address in an Aboite home where Stevens lived, according to court documents.
Court documents included the contents of the post, which read in part, “I would like to be involved with anything against not exactly Israel but Netanyahu’s far-right government that will only cause problems for the US. I will make a lot of noise with or without you.”
In October, another post on the CIA’s website was linked to Stevens that said, “I have very strong Palestinian, Hezbollah, and Iranian contacts. You people better wake up. If the US strikes Palestinian resistance, you will be destroyed. I cannot wait until CIA operatives start getting eliminated. I am going to laugh.”
Stevens is accused of making a third post on the CIA’s website on Nov. 17 that read, “I am going to shoot every pro-Israel US government official in the head, and there is nothing you can do about it because you are the pathetic CIA. I am going to kill all of you.”
Three days after that post, FWPD received a Facebook message from the “Zayed Stevens” profile which said, “I am going to kill every Jew in Fort Wayne, and there is nothing you can do about it, because you are stupid *******… I am going to make sure I kill every one of you,” according to court documents.
A few weeks later, another post on the CIA’s website was linked to Stevens which said, “People will remember me. I am going to be the pro-Palestinian who finally had enough that I starting eliminating CIA operatives.”
According to court documents, the post went on to specifically threaten to eliminate “every CIA member who is pro-Israel… I am so confident that I will give you my phone number, and there is nothing you can do about it… I will **** you up.”
Authorities executed a search warrant at Stevens’ house on Feb. 2. According to court documents, officers interviewed Stevens but he was not taken into custody at that time.
Police read to Stevens two of the posts the man had been accused of writing: the death threats against the CIA and against Fort Wayne’s Jewish population.
Police noted in court documents Stevens admitted to sending both messages and “said that he has a drinking problem and that he does things when he is drunk.”
Stevens was arrested Tuesday outside of Allen County and, according to court documents, faces no more than five years in prison. He could also have to pay a fine instead of, or along with, the prison sentence.
