A Virginia man has been remanded to U.S. Marshall Service custody over his alleged threat to kill the interim executive director of the Kennedy Center, Richard Grenell.
Scott Allen Bolger, 33, of McLean, Virginia, was charged with a criminal complaint for allegedly sending interstate threats and making false statements. Grenell confirmed he was the target of the threat in an X post late Tuesday evening.
“I am grateful to Pam Bondi, Kash Patel and Lindsey Halligan for finding this deranged individual and locking him up. His name is Scott Bolger,” Grenell wrote, reposting a Fox News article confirming Grenell as the target and Bolger as the suspect.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick denied Bolger’s bond on Tuesday and sent him into USMS custody pending trial, according to court documents.
“Threats of violence are serious crimes with serious consequences,” said Lindsey Halligan, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Those who target federal employees should know that we will investigate and prosecute these offenses to the fullest extent of the law.”
The affidavit supporting the complaint, filed on Dec. 26, details that Bolger allegedly sent a federal employee, now identified as Grenell, a text message saying, “Step on U Street and get a bullet put between your eyes, loyalist pig skin p***y.”
The text was sent anonymously through Google Voice, which allows users to display a phone number other than their primary number.
Using the recovery phone number associated with the number that sent the text message, FBI authorities tracked down Bolger, who initially resisted and told authorities a fake name. According to the affidavit written by an FBI task force officer, Bolger later allegedly cooperated and admitted to sending the text message.
Bolger allegedly sent Grenell the text message on Dec. 23 and reportedly made a false statement to authorities on Dec. 24.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gavin R. Tisdale of the Eastern District of Virginia is prosecuting the case.