A 21-year-old man has pleaded guilty to making threats by e-mail from Cortez against President Barack Obama and the Mall of America.
Federal prosecutors in Denver have dropped a charge of threatening to use explosives in exchange for the plea by Timothy Gutierrez, U.S. attorney spokesman Jeff Dorsch ner announced Tuesday.
Gutierrez had been indicted by a federal grand jury and has been in custody since surrendering Jan. 29.
The FBI began investigating Jan. 12 after receiving two e-mails in Washington, D.C., Dorschner said. Federal investigators traced the threats to an Internet account in Andrews, Texas, where the account holder — Gutierrez’s mother — told authorities that the messages probably came from her son in Cortez.
FBI agents went to an apartment in Cortez and seized Gutierrez’s laptop. Gutierrez later said he sent the e-mails but did not place any explosives at the Mall of America in Minnesota and did not intend to assassinate Obama.
Gutierrez faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
