CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A Charlotte man is in federal custody accused of threatening to assassinate a major presidential candidate.

An affidavit sworn out by a Secret Service agent details the accusations against Jerry Blanchard, a Charlotte accountant. It states that Blanchard threatened to use a military sniper rifle to kill, kidnap and inflict bodily harm upon U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.

The threats were first heard, the agent claims, last month at a Waffle House on Pineville-Matthews Road. Two customers said as they talked with Blanchard, he told them, “Obama and his wife are never going to make it to the White House. He needs to be taken out and I can do it in a heartbeat.”

The customers contacted Secret Service agents in Charlotte, who questioned Blanchard. They said he denied threatening to kill Obama, but admitted he considers Obama to be “the anti-Christ” prophesied in the bible. Agents said they explained to Blanchard that it was illegal to threaten a presidential candidate, and they said Blanchard said he understood.

But two weeks ago, the Secret Service got a second call regarding Blanchard. An employee of the Crown Plaza Hotel in uptown Charlotte said Blanchard was making threats again.

The employee told agents he was in the lobby restroom when he overheard Blanchard on his cell phone saying, “I'll get a sniper rifle and take care of it myself. Somebody's got to do it . . . . We both know Obama is the anti-Christ."

The affidavit states that Blanchard claimed he planned to buy a sniper rifle and a pistol from Hyatt Gun Shop on Wilkinson Boulevard.

Gun shop owner Larry Hyatt said Blanchard was in his store but bought neither weapon.

Blanchard is charged with the felony offense of making threats against a major candidate for the office of president of the United States. Federal prosecutors have filed a request for a psychiatric evaluation of Blanchard and for him to be transferred to a federal facility. He is currently being held in the Mecklenburg County jail.

A spokesman for the Obama campaign said, “The campaign does not comment on these stories.

PDF: Federal Criminal Complaint

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