Key West man threatens the mayor with violence and some bad language, police say
A Key West man was jailed this week after police said he took to Facebook to threaten harm to the city’s mayor.
James Milton White, 22, was arrested Sept. 1 on a felony charge of intimidation.
White was released the next day after posting $100,000 bond, according to Monroe County Sheriff’s Office jail records.
Screenshots taken by a Key West police detective captured posts under White’s name that showed him expressing anger in July at the county’s code enforcement patrolling restrictions put into place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the arrest report.
Police said White’s posts included saying people should “riot” at Mayor Teri Johnston’s home.
“BURN IT TO THE F---ing GROUND AND GET HER OUT OF HERE,” one post stated.
The arrest affidavit is not clear as to when the posts went up. They were not visible on White’s Facebook page on Friday.
White had privacy settings that limited what people who are not his Facebook friends could see.
When shown the posts by police on July 31, Johnston was outraged and concerned for her family’s safety, said Detective Gustavo Medina, in an arrest affidavit.
“Johnston stated she would want to pursue charges for the threats made to her via Facebook posts by James White,” Medina wrote.
White didn’t return a message for comment Friday but police said he told them the posts were not meant as a threat.
“Nothing personal at all,” White reportedly told Medina during a phone interview, during which White said he was out of town but still lived in Key West and works as a bartender on Duval Street.
When asked about another disparaging comment made about city officials in general, Medina said White said, “That’s freedom of speech. There’s nothing illegal about that.”
That specific post was, “KEY WEST CITY OFFICIALS SHOVE THIS SO FAR UP YOUR A-- THAT YOU CHOKE ON IT!”
Other posts on White’s page refer to the mayor with anti-gay slurs and obscenities. One read, “We need a riot to end at her house till she get [sic] in her Mercedes and DRIVES NORTH TO NEVER RETURN!”
When pressed by police about the alleged threats, White said, “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. It might have been a night that I had been drinking and that I have been out of state for awhile having fun on vacation,” according to the affidavit.
A friend of White’s told police he was “anti-mask and anti-code compliance.” But she said after knowing him for only six months, she wasn’t certain whether he was capable of committing bodily harm, according to the affidavit. It wasn’t immediately clear if White had been previously cited for a coronavirus violation.
Shortly after Medina talked with White on the phone, police spotted a new post on White’s Facebook mentioning KWPD and saying that he hoped the person who “snitched” on him gets the novel coronavirus.
White also wrote that he was fleeing the area, police said.
Medina said the new post gave him more evidence that White was the person who posted threats on Johnston.
