A Rockland County man who posted numerous threats against public officials including the governor and members of Congress on a Facebook page has been charged with making terroristic threats and illegal weapons possession, Clarkstown Police said today.
Lawrence Mulqueen, 49, of Nanuet, was arrested after an investigation by Clarkstown Police and the FBI that began with a complaint from his landlord. Sgt. Glen Cummings said the landlord, a 63-year-old woman, complained on Wednesday that Mulqueen had engaged in harassing behavior toward her.
The landlord, Cummings said, alerted police that she also believed Mulqueen had a pattern of threatening behavior that included violent anti-government posts on a Facebook page that he maintained under a pseudonym—Lawrence Henry—and that Mulqueen was illegally in possession of weapons.
Cummings said an investigation revealed that the publicly accessible Facebook page maintained by Mulqueen did contain numerous threats against government officials and law enforcement. Cummings said the Facebook page had posts that Mulqueen was anxious to start killing various public officials including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey and U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The Facebook page, according to police, also stated Mulqueen wanted all followers of President Barack Obama dead, referring to them as "traitor scum," and declaring "death to them all."
With the discovery of the threats, Clarkstown Police alerted the FBI, which assisted the town with an investigation of Mulqueen. The probe led investigators to obtain a search warrant and Mulqueen's home was raided.
Mulqueen was taken into a custody and Cummings said the raid on the home found body armor, weapons and ammunition including:
1 10.62x54 Bolt Action Rifle
1 Remington 35 Pump Action Rifle loaded with 6 rounds
1 Bulletproof Body Armor
Approximately 100 rounds of Ammunition, including 27 rounds of .50 caliber armor piercing bullets (tank buster)
2 Rifle bayonets
1 Rifle Scope
1 Sword
1 Metal Knuckle Knife
No one was injured in connection with Mulqueen's arrest and the raid on his home. Clarkstown police were familiar with Mulqueen because of numerous landlord-tenant disputes that he had been involved with over the past year. Police said that previous criminal convictions made it illegal for Mulqueen to own firearms.
In addition to comments about public officials, a post on the "Lawrence Henry" Facebook page targets Mulqueen's landlord: "harass her at will friends."
The discovery and the Facebook investigation led to Mulqueen being charged with third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, making terroristic threats and harassment. He was arrested and arraigned in Clarkstown Town Court, where Judge Scott Ugell ordered Mulqueen held in the Rockland County Correctional Facility in New City without bail pending a hearing on Monday.
