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Palm Beach County Man Charged With Threatening To Kill Congressperson And Kids

  • Arrest, News
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VOICEMAIL: “Fang Fang. Fang Fang. Fang Fang. Fang Fang. Fang Fang. You [expletive] moron.”

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A Palm Beach County man allegedly threatened to kill a Member of Congress and that member’s children.

BY: 24/7 CRIME DESK | BocaNewsNow.com

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A Palm Beach County man is in federal custody Thursday after allegedly threatening to kill a Congressperson and that person’s children. The Member of Congress was not immediately identified, but some with conspiracy theory beliefs may believe the following transcript of a voicemail allegedly left by Michael Shapiro, 72, of Greenacres, was directed towards Eric Swalwell. The California Congressman was accused of being targeted by suspected Chinese Spy Christine Fang. This happened in 2020. It’s unclear why Shapiro would make a call now.

From the affidavit: “On December 19, 2023, a U. S Congressional Office (henceforth “Congressperson”) received a series of five voice mail messages starting at around 7:18 p.m. on their Washington, D. C. Office main telephone line from an unknown individual. The voice in each call appears to be from the same male individual. The content of each call has been transcribed as follows: “Fang Fang. Fang Fang. Fang Fang. Fang Fang. Fang Fang. You [expletive] moron. You [expletive] a [unintelligible]. Fang Fang. Fang Fang.” “Hey mother-[expletive], you [expletive] a Chinese spy. You mother- [expletive], I’m gonna come after you and kill you [N-word].”

The Department of Justice issued this statement to BocaNewsNow.com.

According to the complaint, on December 19, 2023, Michael Shapiro, 72 from Greenacres, left five voicemail messages for a U.S. Congressperson at the Congressperson’s congressional office in Washington, D.C.  In one of the messages, Shapiro stated that he was going to “come after you and kill you …”  In another message, he stated that he was going to “come and kill your children …”  Shapiro allegedly placed the threatening calls from his home in Greenacres.  The complaint further alleges that Shapiro pleaded guilty in federal court in 2019 for making threatening communications to another victim. 

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Shapiro made his initial appearance this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart for the Southern District of Florida.  

Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Roger B. Handberg, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, and J. Thomas Manger, Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP), made the announcement. 

The USCP is investigating the case, with assistance from USCP’s Tampa Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dispoto for the Southern District of Florida and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Wheeler for the Middle District of Florida are prosecuting the case. 

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

We are publishing the complete affidavit, below:

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