Tulsa man arrested after allegedly sending emails threatening President Biden, members of Congress

An Oklahoma man allegedly sent threatening emails to a news station directed at President Joe Biden, unnamed members of Congress and their families, prosecutors said.

Now, John Jacobs Ahrens, 58, faces federal charges in connection with the emails.

Ahrens allegedly sent a series of emails to KOTV Channel 6 threatening to murder the President, members of Congress and their families if he did not receive money from the station, according to prosecutors.

According to an FBI affidavit, an executive producer from the station contacted the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center to report the threatening emails between May and June 2021.

On May 10, 2021, Ahrens sent a message stating, “Please go to my Facebook page and read what I sent to the men of the United States Congress. They have less than 48 hours to hand over my money or their children will start dying all over the country. I’m going to kill their children using the same law as the Government used to force our families on to the Trail of Tears.”

In a June 17 message, he wrote, “You have until Monday morning 8:00 a.m. sharp to hand a check over to the State of Oklahoma, the Muscogee Nation and my family in accordance with a signed agreement as set forth in the Treaty of 1866,” prosecutors noted.

Other messages included “America is going to get to see a sitting President get his head blown off right in front of them” and “…your families will start dying. After that is over, I’m going to come back here one more time and tell you to hand over my money.”

“Making online threats to murder public officials and their families has consequences,” Acting U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson said in announcing the arrest. “The arrest and filing of criminal charges is the first step in holding individuals accountable for their alleged actions.”

Ahrens was arrested at his Tulsa, Oklahoma, residence on June 18. He allegedly admitted to sending the emails to KOTV during questioning, prosecutors said.