Authorities have taken a 21-year-old man from southwest Miami-Dade into custody after he allegedly made threats against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on a social media platform, the FDLE announced on Monday. Valentin Tomas Morales posted on X, "I think im going to f-- kill Ron DeSantis," according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's report, which credited the Florida Fusion Center for alerting them to the post, as obtained by CBS News Miami.
The specifics behind Morales' motivation for the post were not disclosed by investigators, meanwhile, he has been charged with making written electronic threats to kill or cause bodily injury, the FDLE stated, an address in Mahogany Isle neighborhood of The Hammocks was where authorities apprehended Morales who is now facing a second-degree felony under Florida law, which could result in up to 15 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000 if convicted. Furthermore, Morales is being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $5,000 bond, as Local10 reports.
Morales declined to provide a statement to investigators and invoked his right to have an attorney present during questioning, authorities have said. Upon Morales' detention, his Miranda rights were duly read to him as standard protocol dictates, specialists speculate analytics carried out by the FDLE made it possible to identify the social media account as belonging to Morales. They contacted his sister at his last known address "who confirmed he lived there and provided a phone number for him," the arrest report noted, as obtained by CBS News Miami.
The FDLE reported that the threat posted by Morales, which was quickly deleted after publication, had sufficient clarity and determination to cause reasonable alarm to authorities, This incident follows a separate case just days prior where an 18-year-old honors student at Florida International University was charged under similar circumstances for allegedly posting bomb threats on Instagram, exposing the fragile tension that rests within the threads of online discourse and the real threat they pose to individuals and society.
