RUTHERFORD COUNTY, N.C. — The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office says that a man has been charged with making threats against government disaster workers in western North Carolina.
A man with an assault rifle was reported to officers on Saturday. The man said he might hurt Federal Emergency Management Agency workers who were helping people in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock areas after Hurricane Helene.
The investigators got a description of the suspect’s car and gave it to other police departments. He was later found to be 44-year-old William Jacob Parsons from Bostic.
Parsons was caught and charged with “going armed to scare the public.” He had a handgun and a rifle with him when he was caught, the sheriff’s office said in a press statement.
After putting up a $10,000 guaranteed bond, Parsons was freed from jail.
According to the sheriff’s office, the first report said that the threat came from a “truck load of militia,” but authorities later found that Parsons did it by himself.
Ashe County Sheriff B. Phil Howell said on Facebook that the threats caused FEMA to temporarily stop some of its relief work in some parts of North Carolina over the weekend.
Howell said that Ashe County did not receive any threats, but FEMA did stop working in some places “out of an abundance of caution” to look into the possible danger.
He wrote, “Please stay calm and steady while we get better. Help people and don’t stir the pot.”
FEMA also said it was making “operational adjustments” because of worries about safety.
“FEMA has made some changes to how it works to protect the safety of our hardworking staff and the disaster survivors we are helping.” “Tragedy Recovery Centers will stay open as planned, survivors can still sign up for help, and we will continue to assist the people of North Carolina in their recovery,” an agency representative told Nexstar’s WGHP.
The dangers were talked about by Gov. Roy Cooper’s office, which stressed that storm recovery crews are “working around the clock to bring help to western North Carolina.”
“We are aware of a lot of false information online and reports of threats against response workers on the ground,” Gov. Cooper’s office deputy communications director Jordan Monaghan said in a statement. “The safety of responders must be taken seriously.”
Monaghan said the governor has also told the Department of Public Safety to work with local police and FEMA to look for any possible threats while the rebuilding process is still going on.