Arizona man sought in connection to threats against former President Donald Trump is arrested, law enforcement says
By Cheri Mossburg and Taylor Romine, CNN
(CNN) — An Arizona man who was being sought for allegedly making threats against former President Donald Trump has been arrested, according to law enforcement.
Ronald Syvrud, who is accused of threatening to kill Trump in multiple social media posts over the past couple of weeks, was taken into custody Thursday afternoon in Cochise County, according to county public information officer Carol Capas. Trump was in the county Thursday delivering remarks at the United States-Mexico border.
The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said they were made aware of a threatening social media message directed at Trump on Tuesday. “This message contained language that indicated bodily harm to the candidate,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook.
A second social media post with threats against Trump was found Wednesday, according to authorities. Capas previously declined to name which platform the threats were made on.
The sheriff’s office said “locating this subject was a priority” due to Trump’s visit to the area. “Intelligence developed led to a possible location in the St. David area and multiple units deployed to the location,” the sheriff’s office said.
Syvrud was “taken into custody without incident” and booked on suspicion of two counts of threatening related to the social media posts, and a felony warrant from a neighboring county for failing to register as a sex offender, the sheriff’s office said.
The former president’s team was briefed by law enforcement about the search for the man before he arrived at the border, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
US Secret Service spokesperson Alexandria Worley told CNN the agency is investigating the man. “The U.S. Secret Service investigates all threats against our protectees. As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further at this time,” Worley said.
The 66-year-old was wanted on several outstanding warrants stemming from DUI charges, felony hit and run, and failing to register as a sex offender, the sheriff’s office said in the Facebook news release. Syvrud is a resident of Benson, Arizona, the release said, a city about 50 miles southeast of Tucson.
In addition to supporting state and federal law enforcement in securing the area for Trump’s border visit, the sheriff’s office had added extra investigative resources to search for Syvrud.
When asked about the man who allegedly made threats against him during his speech at the border, Trump said he was unaware the Secret Service was investigating the man but was “not that surprised.”
“I’ve heard it’s dangerous, but I also have a job to do… I haven’t heard about that. They probably want to keep it from me,” Trump said. “I have heard it was very unsafe to make this trip, there were some people that really didn’t want me to make it.”
The Secret Service started bolstering Trump’s security detail and planned to surround the former president with bulletproof glass at campaign rallies after an assassination attempt on Trump at his rally last month in Butler, Pennsylvania, a senior official told CNN last week.
Syvrud is in custody “pending further court adjudication,” the sheriff’s office said. CNN could not immediately identify an attorney for Syvrud.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
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CNN’s Holmes Lybrand, Kate Sullivan and Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.
