The pastor of a local evangelical Christian church with ties to Southeast Ohio Classical Academy recently reported a threatening Facebook post to local law enforcement—including the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
On July 11, Brookfield Church Pastor Aaron Kuhnert contacted the Athens Police Department about Facebook posts he believed threatened him, his home and Brookfield Church. According to a report provided by the department, Kuhnert also called “Greg Meek, a local FBI agent.”
The Athens County Sheriff’s Department also received screen shots of the posts, which “made indirect threats to the Southeast Ohio Classical Academy and its future members,” the report states.
The name of the Facebook user was redacted from the police report, which did not disclose content of the full post.
The comments in question read, in part, “Our protests are lame. Nobody is going to do anything different until heads roll, and I mean that literally, not figuratively. People b—h about looting and violent protests but these f–kers do not care until it hits them in the wallet or their family members start getting offed. At this point either is fine by me…
“When folks are ready for some real s–t to go down, I’m game. Ive been making home made napalm since I was a kid” (sic).
According to the police report, Kuhnert provided additional screen shots of the post in which the unnamed user identified the pastor’s home as “one of the most expensive houses in athens” (sic).
The comment continued, “I want to puke every time i see it” (sic).
Contacted by police, the social media user told officers she did not mean any harm, was upset “about the abortion issue,” and that the comment about Napalm “was a joke with her friend.”
The user contacted the Independent on the condition of anonymity and said, “I wasn’t threatening anyone and was just blowing off steam … I was referring to the government as a whole, not a specific person or organization.”
Investigating officers were advised by Athens City Law Director Lisa Eliason and Chief Prosecutor Tracy Meek that the comments did not meet the Ohio Revised Code’s definition of menacing.
ORC Section 2903.22 states, “No person shall knowingly cause another to believe that the offender will cause physical harm to the person or property of the other person, the other person’s unborn, or a member of the other person’s immediate family.” The law says the belief of harm “may be based on words or conduct … that are directed at or identify a corporation, association, or other organization that employs the other person or to which the other person belongs.”
Kuhnert declined to comment for this story.
