US man charged with threatening Trudeau from Sarnia to be extradited

A Texas man charged with emailing death threats targeting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from a Sarnia fast-food restaurant was ordered Friday to be extradited to the US, where he also is facing charges in multiple states.

Jeremy Joseph, a 40-year-old Houston man living in a Sarnia homeless shelter, was arrested Feb. 4 and charged with two counts of threatening to cause death or bodily harm and one count of threatening to cause damage to property.

The email, allegedly called, ‘I am going to kill Justin Trudeau,’ included alleged gun and bomb threats to the country’s leader and his supporters living in Sarnia. It was allegedly sent from one of the border city’s McDonald’s.

Joseph, a former Wall Street banker who’s battled addictions and mental-health issues, was briefly granted bail in Sarnia, but was back in custody soon after due to four outstanding arrest warrants in three US states. He was denied bail at a second hearing in London featuring a lawyer from the Attorney General of Canada.

Joseph, who represented himself, made more than a dozen court appearances from the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Center in London and the Sarnia Jail amid an ongoing extradition hearing for the US charges and plans to go to trial on the Sarnia charges later this month.

But it’s unclear if that trial will go ahead now, as Joseph agreed to sign a waiver of extradition Friday in a Sarnia courtroom. Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe repeatedly cautioned Joseph about signing the waiver and said it will open him up to being prosecuted on any outstanding charges in the US

“I understand,” he responded.

Roy Lee, senior counsel with the federal Department of Justice, represented the Attorney General of Canada on behalf of the US at Friday’s hearing.

The Sarnia trial, initially scheduled for May 31, previously was adjourned and will be addressed next week.

The email first raised alarm bells after a copy was forwarded to Sarnia police in late January, a spokesperson previously said.

const. Giovanni Sottosanti declined to give specifics of what was written in the email, but details were heard during the bail hearing in London, where a publication ban was not ordered.

Kandia Aird, a lawyer from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada who represented the Attorney General of Canada during the London bail hearing, said the email was concerning and included several alleged violent and troubling statements.

The writer of the email threatened to “lay waste” to people in Sarnia who support Trudeau and called for a stop on refugees and immigrants entering Canada, Aird said.

The accused, a refugee living in Canada since last summer, allegedly sent the email a reporter with The National Post who regularly writes about immigration issues.

“It also appeared that the email was meant to be sent to the prime minister’s office, but the sender had misspelled the name as ‘Trudea,’” Aird said.

The court heard police launched an investigation the next day and traced the email’s IP address to a McDonald’s in Sarnia, where a suspect was identified via video surveillance. Police did an open-source search as part of the investigation, revealing Joseph was wanted in Texas for terrorist threats, the court heard.

There were four outstanding arrest warrants for Joseph in three US states, including two in Texas: one for aggravated assault and another for interstate threats to a judge and others, Aird said.

Joseph also is facing interstate threats charges in New York, allegedly linked to two of his former co-workers at Morgan Stanley, and an arson charge in San Francisco. All but the arson charge allegedly took place while he was living in Sarnia.

“It’s very much a tainted story all connected to my mother’s estate and getting money,” Joseph told a judge, alleging his cousins ​​have stolen his identity. “Identity is very critical here.”

Joseph came into Canada in August via the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and stayed in a Salvation Army-run shelter in Windsor until moving to Sarnia in November. The alleged threats to people living in New York, Houston, Ottawa and Sarnia all were made in December and January.

Joseph, a well-educated man with a master’s degree in bio-engineering and a degree from Stanford graduate school of business, said threatening emails sent to people with racist language doesn’t fit his identity.

“Not only does not fit my identity, but shows you that identity is critical,” he said. “These are allegations about my identity being misused.”

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@ObserverTerry