Man accused of threatening police has court hearing
A retired Arkansas Highway Police officer accused of threatening dozens of local law enforcement officers and the president on his Facebook page in October, appeared before a federal judge in Texarkana Thursday morning.
John William Vickers, 55, of Prescott, Ark., was arrested by local authorities Oct. 26 on a charge of terroristic threatening in Hempstead County. A federal complaint filed Nov. 24 and unsealed Thursday charges
Vickers with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
“The postings read in part, ‘Poor babies will not have life much longer according to God. He said to kill everyone,’” the complaint states. “Vickers referred to someone in one post as, ‘a dead man and I can damn sure make it happen.’ Vickers wrote of himself in the third person, and he went on to post, ‘Planning on 37 of you dying very soon…God said, yes, it’s his time to kill,’ and ‘Between Hope and Texarkana will for 100 percent a fact be the very most dangerous place on planet Earth.’”
Arkansas State Police special agents who executed a search warrant on Vickers’ home Oct. 26 seized a Smith & Wesson pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun, ammunition for both guns and a small amount of marijuana, the federal complaint states.
Vickers refused to speak with members of the Arkansas State Police upon arrest, but he did agree to talk to a special agent of the Secret Service. Vickers allegedly told the agent he was asked to retire from the Highway Police because of an arrest for DUI and his abuse of alcohol, prescription drugs, marijuana and methamphetamine.
“He said that God speaks to him, but that he had no intention of killing the President and was only writing down what God had told him to do,” the complaint states.
Federal authorities were able to charge Vickers with the firearms violation because of an existing protective order issued in Ouachita County, Ark., Circuit Court on April 21, the complaint states. The protective order prohibited Vickers from “harassing, stalking or threatening an intimate partner,” and included an explicit order forbidding possession of guns or ammunition.
Vickers appeared with Texarkana lawyer Craig Henry for his initial appearance on the federal charge before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Bryant in Texarkana’s downtown federal building. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross said the government wants Vickers to remain behind bars while his case proceeds. Bryant scheduled a hearing to address the detention issue next week.