Portland man admits Instagram threats against Portland mayor

Updating: More details )

A 40-year-old Portland man pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of transmitting threatening communications with the intent to extort Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, federal prosecutors said.

According to court documents, on Oct. 9, 2018, Kermit Tyler Poulson posted multiple threatening comments on Mayor Wheeler’s personal Instagram account. Poulson threatened to firebomb the mayor’s home if he did not immediately fire a Portland police officer recently involved in an on-duty shooting, prosecutors said.

Investigators tracked the IP address associated with the comments to a Portland residence where Poulson was staying. Poulson was present when investigators searched the property and after initially making a number of misleading statements, admitted that he alone was responsible for the comments, the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated in a news release.

Poulson faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. He will be sentenced on Oct. 2 before U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Simon.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that Poulson said he was drunk and not on his medication while making multiple posts to his Instagram account.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors said Poulson has agreed to forfeit property used to facilitate his crimes identified by the government prior to sentencing. Poulson’s lawyer said he will argue for probation at the sentencing hearing.

This case was investigated by the Portland FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Portland Police Bureau. The Portland JTTF includes FBI special agents and more than a dozen state and local law enforcement officers.