A Southern Vermont man is facing federal charges for allegedly making numerous violent and threatening comments on YouTube, particularly aimed at the platform’s CEO, Susan Wojcicki.
Kevin Spear, 31, of Plymouth, was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Vermont with one count of making threats over the internet, and one count of assaulting a person assisting federal agents in the performance of official duties.
In April, the Federal Bureau of Investigation received information from Google’s global security and cybercrime investigation group reporting several threats posted to YouTube, which is owned by Google, by Spear, under the alias “The Emperor of Mars,” according to an affidavit written by FBI Special Agent Antoine Waithe.
Over the summer of 2019, Waithe wrote, Spear had posted a number of comments on YouTube threatening the platform and its employees with messages like, “If youtube changes up my speech again I will kill every youtube employee,” and “Youtubes rigged for sure we should just burn it down.”
Then in December, he posted several comments on a video interview with YouTube’s CEO in which he threatened Wojcicki, her family, and her dog, with extremely violent and explicit language, according to the affidavit.
In March and April, he posted comments containing threats about raping YouTube employees, hunting other YouTubers for sport, and killing members of the U.S. government. There was also a series of posts in which Spear said he was holding hostages, and would kill them if YouTube continued to censor him, according to court documents.
On April 28, several FBI agents, alongside officers from the Windsor County Sheriff’s Department and troopers from the Vermont State Police, executed a search warrant at Spear’s residence in Plymouth. It was decided that for the safety of law enforcement, the warrant would not be executed until Spear was in custody and could receive a mental health evaluation, according to the affidavit. Spear did undergo a mental health evaluation and was subsequently released.
When law enforcement officers subsequently went to arrest Spear, he resisted, according to the affidavit. He head-butted a sergeant who temporarily lost consciousness and suffered a concussion and several minor injuries from the event, the court document states.
While searching the residence, where Spear lives with his mother, police found a .556 caliber assault rifle near a window facing the street, with multiple 30-round magazines of ammunition. Police also found ammo of other calibers, but did not find guns matching those calibers. In Spear’s sock drawer, officers found a Samsung phone, with a device name “I kill police for fun.”
Law enforcement had previous contact with Spear in June 2018, when police got reports that Spear was making harassing phone calls to the son of a Ludlow resident. When officers arrived at Spear’s house to talk to him, he came outside with an assault weapon, according to the affidavit, causing an armed stand-off. He eventually went inside, dropped the weapon, and came out, admitting to making the calls and apologizing, saying he had “been reading a lot of news and cops shoot kids and other people,” which is why he brought the weapon outside.
After being arraigned on the charges in a hearing held by phone, Spear was ordered by Judge John Conroy to be held in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending further proceedings. In his motion for detention, Conroy listed his reasons as “Explicit threats to murder or assault specific individuals coupled with possession of a firearm and a large quantity of ammunition as well as sustained substance abuse.”
Court documents state that in light of the Covid-19 emergency, the court concluded that “extraordinary circumstances” exist, and that justice requires the preliminary hearing to be extended to be held “on or about” June 1.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan wrote that assaults on law enforcement officers would “never” be tolerated, nor would threats or other forms of violence.
“Law enforcement officers put themselves in harm’s way every day to protect us before the pandemic hit,” Nolan wrote. “Now, our first responders are taking on additional risks related to virus exposure in order to keep us safe.”
Neither YouTube, nor Spear’s lawyer, Maryanne Kampmann, immediately responded to requests for comment.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont man charged for threats against YouTube CEO, head-butting officer.