FBI agents arrested 18-year-old Justin Olsen, of Boardman, Ohio, on a federal charge of threatening to assault a federal law enforcement officer. Agents began investigating Olsen early this year after discovering his “ArmyOfChrist” social media account on iFunny, where he expressed support for mass shooters, disdain for federal agents, and admiration for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
An FBI agent in Alaska first noticed his increasingly threatening posts. Shockingly, and of great concern to the general public at-large, he began to amass a lot of followers on the iFunny account where he posted these threats, gaining more than 4,400 subscribers this year.
In light of the Dayton mass shooting, prosecutors decided they could no longer wait to arrest Olsen. Details on the arrest from the Tribune Chronicle:
FBI agents and members of the Mahoning Valley Violent Crime Taskforce obtained a search warrant for the Presidential Court home on Wednesday, and no one was home.
Agents were told by neighbors that Olsen had moved to his father’s home in the 700 block of Oakridge Drive. He was arrested at that site, a police report states.
Olsen was originally arrested on state charges of inducing panic and aggravated menacing threats against an officer.
When agents arrested him at his father’s home, they discovered a huge weapons cache. Cleveland.com has details:
When officers went to Olsen’s father’s house on Aug. 7, they saw about 300 rounds of ammunition on the stairway leading to the second floor. They entered the home for a safety sweep, seeing a computer and iPad in Olsen’s room. In another bedroom, they found rifle cases, thousands of rounds of ammunition, camouflage clothing and camouflaged backpacks, along with a large gun vault, the affidavit states.
Inside the vault were AR-15-style rifles and shotguns.
In all, the search of the house resulted in the seizure of 15 rifles, some of which were assault-style, as well as 10 semi-automatic pistols and an estimated 10,000 rounds of ammunition, according to the affidavit. Authorities also found a machete in the trunk of Olsen’s car.
WKBN has details on some of online history, including his admiration of Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh:
They said the user “ArmyOfChrist” posted threats, discussed supporting mass shootings and talked about targeting Planned Parenthood.
One of the posts said, “go out of your way to break [gun] laws” and “stock up on stuff they could ban,” the FBI said.
Another said the Oklahoma City bombing “shows that armed resistance is a viable method of political change,” according to court documents.
Olsen told investigators he was only “joking” when he made the social media posts, but federal agents aren’t laughing.
Olsen admitted to Tsarnas during his arrest that he posted comments about violence on iFunny from his cellphone but said they were “only a joke,” the affidavit says. He said the comments regarding shooting federal agents were “a hyperbolic conclusion based on the results of the Waco siege … where the ATF slaughtered families,” according to the affidavit.
Olsen also said he made the postings on his “s--t account,” the police report states.
Olsen had reportedly been accepted into an ROTC program in Alabama.
