A man in Illinois is facing federal charges for allegedly taking to social media and threatening to assassinate President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, former President Barack Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — even going so far as to post videos of himself making the threats on camera with his face in full view, according to prosecutors.
“Mayorkas, I’m going to have you f—ing killed,” Jacob Sterr, 36, allegedly wrote in one of the alleged X broadcasts, which is detailed in Sterr’s criminal complaint.
Filed in the Central District of Illinois last week, the complaint features images of posts and at least one video purportedly from Sterr’s X page. Prosecutors say that the Springfield man uses the handle @SterrILOVEYOUA, and a Law&Crime review of that account shows that regular posts were appearing until Dec. 6 — the day of Sterr’s arrest.
The posts he allegedly made against the Bidens, Obama and Mayorkas came in late November after he created his account on Nov. 22. The page is filled with inflammatory statements aimed at both Democrats and Republicans, but it’s the alleged threats of violence that wound up putting him on the radar of the U.S. Secret Service, according to his complaint.
“I am going to have you assassinated, you never understood my deadlines since 2021,” Sterr allegedly said in one X post that tagged Obama.
“I’m going to have you raped, maimed and only honored by my God,” he allegedly said in a threat aimed at Jill Biden in another. “You’re f—ed,” he said in a post targeting President Biden, tagging his X page multiple times, according to the complaint.
Federal authorities say it was Sterr’s video about Mayorkas that ultimately gave him away after Secret Service agents traced the posts back to him in Springfield, with the complaint identifying the defendant “as the subject in the video broadcast by the account Jacob Sterr/@SterrILOVEYOUAaccount who threatens Secretary Mayorkas.”
The complaint noted that Sterr was “familiar” to federal authorities, though it’s unclear why.
Sterr has been appointed a public defender and is being held in Sangamon County.
The post ‘I’m going to have you killed’: Man makes threats to assassinate President Biden, Barack Obama in X posts and videos, feds say first appeared on Law & Crime.