San Antonio Man, 38, Jailed on $75K Bond Over Facebook Threats to City Officials

A 38-year-old San Antonio man is being held on a $75,000 bond after investigators say he posted threats against police officers, judges, lawyers and city officials on Facebook amid the heated public debate over San Antonio's proposed budget. Timothy Alejos was booked into custody on charges of terroristic threat, with authorities alleging his comments were tied directly to the city's ongoing fiscal fight over a possible property tax increase and proposed cuts to city positions.

According to an arrest affidavit cited by KABB, Alejos wrote that he would start “taking out cops, judges and lawyers, then city officials,” prefacing the remark with an expletive followed by emojis. The comments came in response to a Facebook post from the group Citizen Veteran Journalists of Bexar County that criticized city spending, a post that KSAT also covered the same day. In a follow-up comment, Alejos allegedly wrote, according to the arrest report: “I don't car[e] who is protected or who is on the chopping block, if I see any city officials doing better than the average person, the[y] will be dealt with, and definitely not on a ballot.” He included a water gun emoji in that comment and in a second one, per the same arrest report.

Investigators say they contacted Facebook for information connected to the account and used additional records to identify Alejos as the person controlling the profile before naming him as a suspect. He is now being held at the Bexar County Jail, and police say they have increased security measures to protect elected officials in the wake of the case.

A Budget Fight Fueling the Anger

The online outburst landed in the middle of San Antonio's most contentious budget season in decades. On August 13, City Manager Erik Walsh presented a proposed $4.41 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2027 to Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and the City Council, recommending the city's first property tax rate increase in 30 years — from 54.159 cents to 56.288 cents per $100 of taxable value — to help close a projected $158 million general fund deficit, according to the City of San Antonio.

The plan also calls for $89.6 million in spending reductions through Fiscal Year 2028, including the elimination of 101 municipal civil service positions. That includes 39 library aide and circulation jobs spread across 17 branches and 15 positions within the Metropolitan Health District, as reported by the San Antonio Express-News. City staff have noted that hiring freezes may absorb some displaced workers without immediate layoffs.

Mayor Jones had already tried to head off the cuts before they reached this point. In July, she issued an open letter asking local businesses, foundations and philanthropies to make three-year funding commitments supporting 15 community organizations threatened by the budget reductions, including the San Antonio Botanical Garden. As of August 24, however, News Radio 1200 WOAI reported that no organizations had made financial pledges toward that effort.

The Legal Bar for a Threat Charge

Under Texas Penal Code § 22.07, a terroristic threat is generally charged as a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail, but the charge escalates to a Class A misdemeanor when directed at a public servant and can rise to a felony if prosecutors argue it was meant to impair public service or influence government conduct, according to Thornton Criminal Defense. Booking records reviewed by Calhoun County Texas Mugshots show Alejos was initially taken into custody on August 19 on a charge described as terroristic threat causing fear of serious bodily injury or seeking to influence government, before his case moved to Bexar County Jail.

Proving that kind of case in court is not simple. The 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Counterman v. Colorado held that prosecuting online speech as an unprotected criminal “true threat” requires the government to show the speaker acted with at least a reckless mental state — consciously disregarding a substantial risk that the statement would be understood as violent — rather than relying on how an objective reader might interpret it, per Justia Law. Bexar County has already run into that evidentiary wall once this year: in March, prosecutors dropped a third-degree felony retaliation charge against San Antonio resident Marcos Rene Olvera, who had been arrested after posting “We need to kill the mayor” in an online forum during a sports arena debate, citing insufficient evidence to prove the offense's legal elements, Hoodline previously reported.

Part of a Wider Pattern of Threats

Alejos's arrest is not the first this year tied to threats against San Antonio's mayor. In May, authorities arrested 43-year-old Kendall Durand on terroristic threat charges after he allegedly left a voicemail threatening to have a bomb planted at Mayor Jones's office, a case Hoodline reported at the time. And earlier this month, gunfire outside a San Antonio councilman's field office grazed one person following mayoral memos on official security, another case Hoodline has covered.

The pattern reflects a broader national trend. A 2023 Brennan Center for Justice study found that 89% of state legislators reported experiencing harassment, insults or threats over the preceding three years, according to The Fulcrum. More recently, data compiled by the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University showed targeted political violence incidents nationwide rose by at least 34% in 2025, alongside a 58% increase in violent threats aimed at members of Congress, as reported by Just Security.

It remains unclear whether Alejos's case will ultimately result in prosecution, given the constitutional hurdles Bexar County prosecutors have already faced in similar cases involving online commentary. For now, he remains held at the Bexar County Jail on a $75,000 bond as the investigation continues.