A Jefferson County man was ordered held in federal custody after prosecutors charged him with threatening FBI agents who came to question him about calls to a Jewish charity.
Dylan Daniell, 33, of La Fargeville, was arraigned Oct. 9 in Syracuse on a criminal complaint charging him with threatening a federal law enforcement officer, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mitchell Katz scheduled a detention hearing for Oct. 15.
The complaint says a nonprofit Jewish charity received several calls in May from a man who made threats of mass violence against Jews. The FBI identified Daniell as the likely user of the phone number involved, according to prosecutors. The release does not say he has been charged over those calls.
Two FBI agents went to Daniell's La Fargeville home on Oct. 7 to interview him about the calls. After they identified themselves as agents, he allegedly told them that the “only good cop is a dead cop” and warned them to leave before he pulled something out on them.
About four hours later, one of the agents received a text message from Daniell's phone number saying the agents would “not like it” if they returned to his home, according to the complaint. The message added, “That’s not a threat that’s a promise.”
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release. Those are statutory maximums, not a predicted sentence; any sentence would be determined by a judge if Daniell were convicted.
The FBI is investigating with assistance from New York State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew McCrobie is prosecuting the case.
Daniell remained in custody pending the Oct. 15 detention hearing, prosecutors said.
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