Feds: Northern Michigan man threatened to kill Biden, bomb White House

Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read
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President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the U.S. Capitol House Chamber March 1, 2022 in Washington, D.C. In his first State of the Union address, Biden spoke on his administration's efforts to lead a global response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, work to curb inflation, and bring the country out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A northern Michigan man who already served prison time for threatening to kill President Barack Obama is back in federal court — this time for threatening the life of President Joe Biden and wanting to blow up the White House, according to an indictment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

The one-page indictment offers very little information about the latest allegation, beyond stating that Timothy Findlay made the threat in Arenac County on April 28 — the same day the  Biden administration asked Congress for $33 billion in military and humanitarian aid for war-torn Ukraine.

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"On April 28, 2022, Timothy Heath Findlay ... knowingly and willfully made a true threat to take the life of and to inflict bodily harm upon the president of the United States, specifically, to bomb the White House and kill everyone," the indictment states.

Findlay, 48, of Prescott — a village of about 270 people that's located about 22 miles south of West Branch, is in custody.

Findlay's alleged threat on Biden's life comes one decade after he made the same threat on Obama's life — a federal crime he  eventually pleaded guilty to and got 15 months in prison for.

According to his 2014 plea agreement, Findlay was in the Ogemaw County jail in 2013 for unrelated bomb threat charges when he wrote on the walls of his jail cell: "F------ kill the president B------" and "Kill Obama."

Timothy Heath Findlay, 49, of northern Michigan, was charged on June 15, 2022 with threatening to kill President Biden and bomb the White House. He previously served 15 months in prison for making the same threat against President Obama.
Timothy Heath Findlay, 49, of northern Michigan, was charged on June 15, 2022 with threatening to kill President Biden and bomb the White House. He previously served 15 months in prison for making the same threat against President Obama.

Findlay also wrote two notes that were read by jail staff. They read:

"I want to kill Judge Nobile and the president with a bomb."

The second note said, "I want to bomb the white house."

On Sept. 13, 2013, Findlay also told a Secret Service agent that if he were drunk, he would "definitely try to kill the president," and stated that once he got out of prison he would "get a rifle, borrow a car, drive to Washington D.C. and kill the President," the plea agreement states.

Findlay also wrote a letter to the president around 2011 or 2012 saying he was going to kill him, though a relative talked him out of sending it, the plea agreement states.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Findlay faced 12-18 months in prison.

He got 15 months and three years of supervised release, though he wound up in prison after serving his sentence.

According to court records, a warrant was issued for his arrest in 2017 for a violation of his supervised release: He wasn't reporting to his probation officer.

In 2019, Findlay got   an additional four months in prison for the probation violation.

Findlay is currently in state custody for an unrelated matter and is due to be arraigned on his latest charge on June 27 in U.S. District Court in Flint, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Feds: Michigan man threatened to kill Biden, bomb White House