On Tuesday, May 25, 2010, Adam Albrett, a patent attorney (Reg. No. 50514) who lives in Fairfax, Virginia, was arrested and charged with making threats on the life of the President of the United States, Barack Obama. At that time an order of temporary detention was issued by US Magistrate Judge Thomas Rawles Jones, Jr., who ordered that Albrett be held in custody pending a detention hearing that was to be held on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 1:30 pm. Instead of the detention hearing being held today it was deferred until Tuesday, June 1, 2010, at 2:00 pm. Albrett’s temporary detention was extended until that time.

A sealed criminal complaint and supporting affidavit were filed on May 21, 2010. On May 25, 2010, Magistrate Jones issued an order to unseal the complaint, finding that revealing the contents of the complaint would no longer jeopardize the criminal investigation of Albrett. At this time the threat and charges became known, as did the fact that Albrett allegedly goes by the alias Muhannad Almahmoudi.

According to the affidavit of Matthew Luczak, a Special Agent with the United States Secret Service, Albrett sent to the White House Correspondence Office the following threat:

THIS IS NOT A JOKE….Inform the FBI, CIA, U.S. Military and DOJ that I am going down to DC to blow the brains out of OBAMA unless he vacates the White House and I am going to shoot up the place and Rham if I see him….THIS IS NOT A JOKE….I am going to leave Mara at home with water and some food….

The Luczak affidavit, which acknowledges that not all information in the government’s possession is provide, but just enough to support probable cause, also explains the rationale for believing Albrett was the one who sent the message. The IP address of the sender of the threat was assigned to the street address given in the message itself. The Verizon account associated with the IP Address listed the same telephone number provided in the message. The Verizon customer’s last name was the family name of Albrett’s mother, brother and sister. Additionally, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, this same address is the address listed on Albrett’s driver’s license. Albrett’s brother told investigators that Albrett was the sole resident at the address, and his sister confirmed that Albrett has a dog named Mara.

Albrett is a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, and is the President, CEO and founder of Sirenada, Inc. He is also a co-inventor of the technology employed in the devices under development by Sirenada.

Albrett stands accused of violating 18 U.S.C. § 871, which relates to making threats against the President and successors to the Presidency. He is also charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), which relates to making interstate threats to injure a person. Finally, he is charged with 47 U.S.C. § 223(a)(1)(E), which relates to repeated interstate communications solely for the purpose of harassment. All of these violations are felonies.