Man pleads guilty to threatening mass shooting at FSU
Sean Michael Albert admits threatening to kill 100 gay people, previously called it “a joke”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - A man accused of threatening a mass shooting on FSU’S campus last December has just pleaded guilty to federal charges.
Sean Michael Albert was set to stand trial in July, but federal court records show he entered a guilty plea Tuesday afternoon in a courtroom in Orlando.
Albert was arrested in January after the FBI got a tip about a post on a social media site. It included a picture of an AR-15 style rifle, listed the address of FSU’s Westcott Building and said, “100 (expletives) Will Die, Cya There!”
When confronted in Orlando’s International Airport and questioned by the FBI, federal court records say Albert admitted to posting the threat under the user name “BloodstanedSand#0088″ and told agents it was meant to be “ironic” “satirical” and a “joke.”
The binding plea agreement is 23 pages long and indicates Albert faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for making the threat, but it also says Albert could face an enhanced sentence for “intentionally selecting members of the LGBTQ+ community as the objects of defendant’s threats based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation.”
Federal court records say Albert will be sentenced at a later date, but that date has not yet been set.
Court minutes from Tuesday’s change of plea hearing show Albert will remain in custody until then.
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