A 22-year-old man from Anaheim, California, is facing federal charges after allegedly falsely claiming he placed pipe bombs inside Disneyland before Vice President JD Vance visited the park with his family last year.
Marco Antonio Aguayo is accused of posting messages on the Walt Disney Co.’s official Instagram page after learning that Vance was visiting the park on July 12, according to the criminal complaint. He was charged Wednesday with one count of making threats against the president and successors to the presidency, the Department of Justice said in a news release.
Aguayo is expected to make his initial appearance Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California. If convicted, Aguayo faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
Aguayo “is now in the Unhappiest Place on Earth,” Bill Essayli, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, wrote Friday night on X. “Today, Aguayo was arrested and charged with threatening to kill @VP Vance with pipe bombs last summer when the Vice President and his family visited Disneyland.
“A threat to kill a public official is a federal crime. First Amendment rights do not extend to threats to kill or injure others, especially our nation’s elected officials. Such conduct will not be tolerated and will not go unpunished.”
Hellbound and Down 