NYC man busted with weapon stockpile allegedly threatened Warnock’s life
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A wannabe Queens Proud Boy busted with a cache of weapons — including 75 knives –allegedly threatened the life of senator-elect Raphael Warnock hours before the US Capitol riot, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Eduard Florea, 40, allegedly commented on Parler “Dead men can’t pass shit laws” in response to another user’s post which stated, “F–K RAPHAEL WARNOCK LOSER,” according to a federal criminal complaint.
As the day unfolded, Florea posted more incendiary comments under the name LoneWolfWar.
“Let’s go…I will be reaching out to patriots in my area so we can come up with a game plan . . . Here in New York we are target rich…Dead men can’t pass shit laws…I will fight so help me god,” he allegedly wrote. “The time for peace and civility is over…3 cars full of armed patriots are enroute from NY/ 3 cars of armed patriots heading into DC from NY/ guns cleaned loaded…got a bunch of guys all armed and ready to deploy…we are just waiting for the word.”
A day earlier, he allegedly threatened in an online post, “I catch one of you f–kers in DC tomorrow …definitely slicing a throat.” It wasn’t clear who he was referring to.
Florea, a software engineer, didn’t actually attend the DC rally that led to an angry pro-Trump mob storming the US Capitol, which left five dead, officials said.
An armored FBI vehicle with more than a dozen federal agents in tow descended on Florea’s home in Middle Village on Tuesday to take him into custody.
At a bail hearing Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court, Assistant US Attorney Francisco Navarro said that FBI agents had seized from Florea’s home over 1,000 rounds of rifle ammunition, two dozen shotgun rounds and approximately 75 military-style combat knives, two hatches and two swords. Agents did not find a gun in the basement unit he shares with his wife and two young children.
Florea is charged with one count of being a convicted felon in possession of ammunition.
Navarro said that Florea was a Proud Boy supporter and had applied to join the right-wing group but hadn’t attended enough meetings yet to qualify as a member.
The prosecutor urged US Magistrate Judge Sanket Bulsara to hold Florea without bail.
Defense lawyer Mia Eisner-Grynberg countered that Florea had nothing to do with the “despicable acts” that occurred at the US Capitol and called the online threats nothing more than “blather on the Internet” which “the FBI has concluded was not true.”
The judge sided with the government and referred to Florea as a “significant danger to the community” and his Parler posts as “a deliberate plan to engage in potential serious violence.”
Florea has a prior felony conviction for third-degree criminal possession of a weapon stemming from a 2014 arrest. He was busted with a cache of guns in the trunk of his car in Staten Island and sentenced to one year in jail.
Cops seized 13 guns, including air pistols and an AR-15 assault rifle that had been legally purchased on Long Island, Navarro said.
A month before Florea picked up the Staten Island weapons case, he was arrested for allegedly choking his wife as she held their one-year-old daughter, the Staten Island Advance reported.
“I will f—king kill you both,” he allegedly snarled while clutching a knife, according to the newspaper. “First her (the child) and then you.”
He took an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, and the case was eventually dropped and the record sealed.
Florea faces up to 10 years in prison on the latest charge.
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