On the left: Ian Stewart (Williams County Correctional Center). On the right: Barack Obama (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images). Background: Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site in Williston, N.D. (National Park Service).
A man from North Dakota is accused of issuing death threats against Barack Obama and breaking into a National Park Service historic site, during which he allegedly threatened a worker with a fire poker, as per police reports.
Ian Patrick Stewart, aged 36, faces charges of felony burglary, damage to U.S. property, terrorizing, malicious mischief, making threats to kill a former U.S. president, and three counts of threatening interstate communications for his alleged actions, according to his federal indictment.
Between April 20 and May 13, Stewart “knowingly and willfully” threatened to kill and inflict bodily harm on the 44th president and at least three other people. He capped off his threat spree with the fire poker raid at the Fort Union Trading Post in Williston, according to local CBS affiliate KXNET.
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An employee at the fort reported Stewart to police after being approached by him. They said he was wielding the fire poker and forced her away from the fort, per KXNET.
Authorities reportedly showed up and took Stewart into custody, but not before he allegedly threatened to “burn” the fort down and destroy artifacts that are inside.
According to his federal indictment, Stewart entered the fort at a time when it was not open and barricaded himself inside.
He is accused of sending threats against Obama and three others via “interstate and foreign commerce email and telephone communications,” the indictment says. The other individuals are all from Williston.
Stewart is scheduled to go on trial in October. His bond was set at $50,000.
According to court records, Stewart was charged in Washington state last September for allegedly assaulting a highway patrol trooper during a traffic stop. He was also arrested in October for allegedly threatening to shoot a superior court judge, according to local reports.
