Jul 31, 11:00 PM EDT

Man who threatened Obama sentenced to probation


DENVER (AP) -- A Texas man who pleaded guilty to threatening President Barack Obama and the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis was sentenced Friday to four years of probation and home detention.

U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello sentenced 21-year-old Timothy Ryan Gutierrez to serve the first 10 months of his probation under house arrest with electronic monitoring and pay nearly $1,500 to Mall of America security.

Gutierrez pleaded guilty May 4 to a charge of making threats by e-mail and was released on $25,000 unsecured bond. He could have been sentenced up to 18 months in prison.

In January, he sent two e-mails from his brother's home in Cortez to the FBI's Washington office, threatening Obama eight days before the presidential inauguration and saying that he had planted explosives outside the mall.

Authorities said one of the e-mails threatened: "I'm going to assassinate the new president of the United States of America. P.S., you have 48 hours to stop it from happening."

The indictment issued earlier this year against Gutierrez said a second e-mail threatened to blow up the mall with 40 pounds of C4 explosive and TNT planted on seven cars parked outside.

"Good luck thank you and God bless the you know the rest time is wasting," the e-mail read, according to the indictment.

Investigators determined the e-mails were sent from an account in Andrews, Texas. The account holder in Texas told authorities that the messages likely were sent by her son, who lived in Cortez in southwest Colorado. Authorities went to the apartment in Cortez, where they contacted Gutierrez.

He claimed the e-mails were pranks.

"Threats against our public officials are taken seriously," said David Gaouette, acting U.S. attorney for Colorado. "They are acted upon immediately and those responsible will be held accountable."

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