DOCUMENT: Crime

Obama Threat Sent Via White House Web Site

Illinois man, 29, warned of plot to shoot president

President Barack Obama

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Threats To President

MARCH 12--An Illinois man arrested yesterday for threatening Barack Obama’s life allegedly used the White House’s comment line to transmit a warning that he was preparing to shoot the president, according to court records.

Secret Service agents allege that Louis Kinderman, 29, logged onto the White House web site late last month and used a “Contact Us” feature to claim that, “I am going to kill Obama and no one I repeat no one is going to stop me!!” He added, “The time has come. The government can go fuck themselves starting with Obama.”

A March 11 felony complaint filed in U.S. District Court also alleges that Kinderman, who works as a security guard, sent a prior threat via the White House web site, and also wrote to an FBI tip line that, “Well, I just wanted to give the agents a heads up that I am going to kill president Obama. Since this is a tip line anyway.”

In his communications with the White House, Kinderman, seen at right, used the name “A.J. Hidell” and claimed to live in Dallas, Texas. Though not noted in an affidavit sworn by Secret Service Agent Lee Russell, “A.J. Hidell” was an alias used by Lee Harvey Oswald.

Investigators tracked the threatening communications to the Lincoln, Illinois home Kinderman shares with roommates. After receiving permission from Kinderman, an agent  examined the suspect’s laptop for evidence that it was used to send the February 27 threat. However, the search history for the period of time in which the threat was sent “appeared to be deleted from the internet history cache.”

The review of Kinderman’s computer also revealed the programs “Hide the IP” and “Proxify” that appeared to allow a user to cloak online activities via the spoofing of IP addresses and the use of proxy servers.

When confronted by agents, Kinderman admitted sending the Obama threats.

During a court appearance yesterday, a magistrate ordered Kinderman released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond. In a court order signed today by Magistrate Byron Cudmore, Kinderman’s travel was restricted to two Illinois counties, he was ordered not to possess a firearm, and was informed that he will be subjected to electronic monitoring by probation officials. (3 pages)