A 47-year-old Dunnellon, Florida man is being held without bond on federal charges after investigators say he made dozens of threatening and sexually explicit phone calls to NAACP headquarters, including threats to kill former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, and NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson. Jeremiah James Schwier was arrested on August 26 and remains detained while awaiting legal proceedings.
U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced that Schwier was charged by criminal complaint with interstate transmission of a threat to injure, according to the Tampa Free Press. Federal investigators linked the calls to Schwier after his cellphone records confirmed his phone had placed calls directly to the specific NAACP line where the threats were logged, the outlet reported.
The threats stretched over several months and escalated in severity. On May 20, a caller warned he would enter the NAACP office with an “AK 57,” a threat that, per BNO News, forced the evacuation of three NAACP national offices — two in Baltimore and one in Washington, D.C. Between April and May 2026, the NAACP received roughly 60 threatening and sexually explicit phone calls, with call timestamps closely aligning with the reported incidents, the Tampa Free Press noted.
Threats Named the Obamas and NAACP's President
By August, the NAACP had logged 14 additional similar calls, according to BNO News. Those blocked-number calls explicitly threatened to shoot, murder, and mutilate Johnson, while also threatening to shoot Obama and his wife. Federal investigators determined that the initial 60 calls, placed between April and May, originated from four separate phone numbers, all of which carrier records tied directly to Schwier's cellphone, per the same outlet.
Johnson has led the NAACP as its 19th president and CEO since October 2017, overseeing national voting rights litigation and civil rights advocacy for the organization, according to the NAACP. The phone calls to the organization featured inflammatory language and sexual content, the Tampa Free Press reported, though the full contents of the calls have not been made public.
Booked Into Marion County Jail, Awaiting Trial
Following his arrest, Schwier was booked into the Marion County Jail in Florida, where jail records confirm he is held without bond pending trial, according to Ocala-News.com. The case was investigated jointly by the FBI Jacksonville Field Office and the Marion County Sheriff's Office, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela M. Palacios assigned to prosecute, per the U.S. Department of Justice.
Schwier faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison if convicted, the Tampa Free Press reported. He was charged under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), a federal statute that makes it a felony to transmit any communication in interstate commerce containing a threat to injure another person, carrying up to five years in prison regardless of whether the threat is ever carried out.
Part of a Broader Federal Crackdown in Florida
Schwier's case fits into a pattern of aggressive federal prosecution of interstate threat cases in Florida. Just one day before Schwier's arrest, Kehoe announced charges against Ohio resident Alex Justin Miller under the same statute for sending email death threats to a U.S. Congressman and his family, an offense that also carries a five-year statutory maximum.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida has repeatedly pursued such cases. On August 26, the same office secured the sentencing of Cape Coral resident Paul Richard Lukas to four years in federal prison for making interstate threatening phone calls, with prosecutors citing his lengthy criminal record in seeking an upward sentencing variance.
Threats against civil rights organizations have drawn sustained federal attention in recent years. In December 2024, a federal grand jury indicted a Missouri man on hate crime charges after he sent racially motivated threats to the St. Louis NAACP, according to the Justice Department. It remains unclear whether federal prosecutors will seek hate crime enhancements or additional counts against Schwier given the explicit threats against the Obamas and the racial civil rights focus of the organization he allegedly targeted.
