A suburban Detroit man whose mother says he has Asperger syndrome has been indicted for threatening on Facebook to behead the NYPD cop who put Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold, court documents show.
“He said those things about the police, but he doesn’t mean to do these things,” his mom, Norma Telles, 51, told the Daily News on Wednesday.
Her son, Alvaro Eduardo Guzman-Telles, 29, allegedly posted the threats between Dec. 15 and Dec. 19.
“I’m going to personally kill and behead Daniel Pantaleo,” he wrote in one posting. “This is a written threat and has to be taken extremely seriously.”
The threat came amid nationwide protests over the police-related deaths of Garner in July and Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, in Ferguson, Mo., the following month.
The FBI’s New York Field Office investigated the posts and found that Guzman-Telles, who went by the handle Captain Acab on Facebook, lived in Sterling Heights, Mich.
Local cops visited the mom Jan. 1, and she said she had ordered her son to delete the threats, the records show. He did, but it was too late.
He was arrested Jan. 7 in New Mexico and a Michigan grand jury indicted him Jan. 27, officials said.
The head of the NYPD’s largest police union hailed Guzman-Telles’ arrest.
“We are very grateful that the Detroit Police Department took the threat against one of our members seriously and has taken action to eliminate it,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said in a statement. “There needs to be action taken to overcome the anti-police climate in this country that has been created by opportunistic politicians and political activists. When their hateful rhetoric reaches the fanatical or unbalanced, it quickly can turn to violence.”
The bereft mom told the Daily News her son says things he doesn’t mean because of his autism.
Asperger syndrome is a highly functional form of autism and can hinder the ability to behave appropriately in certain social situations.
Before threatening Pantaleo, Guzman-Telles posted general threats against cops, including, “Kill all cops on sight. No matter the circumstances,” according to the criminal complaint from Michigan.
After other posters made comments, Guzman-Telles wrote that he “stands behind his words.”
Another Facebook poster referenced Garner’s death, and Guzman-Telles responded with his threat to behead Pantaleo.
A Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo on Dec. 3, enraging protesters across the country.
Seventeen days later, NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were shot to death by a madman who had posted bloody threats about killing cops.
Killer Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley, 28, posted on Instagram earlier in the day that he was “putting Wings on Pigs.” He shot himself to death after killing the officers.
Guzman-Telles has no criminal history but had three handguns registered in his name, the legal documents show. His mother said his dad had control of the guns and that her son didn’t have access to them.
Guzman-Telles is in custody and has a bail hearing scheduled for Friday, according to the court docket. He faces up to five years in prison.
“I’m really upset because I said, ‘Oh, my God, I know my son,'” Norma Telles said, adding that he was diagnosed in Mexico when he was 3. “I’d give my life for him because I know he’s very innocent.”
