CARY, N.C. (WITN) – Police say that a Cary man who court documents show has a 20+ year history of making threats has been arrested for threatening to shoot children.
Cary Police say that 46-year-old Kevin Douglas of Cary was arrested for cyberstalking and communicating threats on Wednesday at a Cary Extended Stay motel on Weston Parkway.
According to police, several of the threats that Douglas made appeared to be directed towards a childcare center across the road from the motel.
Police said that Douglas made nine threats to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) using their cyber-tip reporting system on their website.
Police also said that some of the threats included that he wanted to kill children and that Douglas may have been talking about children at Bright Horizons, a childcare center also located on Weston Parkway.
“The safety and well-being of the public are our utmost priority, and we are committed to taking all necessary actions in coordination with all our public safety partners on the local, State, and Federal levels to ensure their protection. We also want to extend our gratitude to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for their vigilance and quick reporting of this threat, which undoubtedly played a crucial role in resolving this situation before anyone was hurt,” said Cary Police Chief Terry Sult.
Court records show that Douglas was released Wednesday night on a $1,000 secured bond but was then arrested again on Thursday morning after police say he was caught using his phone which violated pre-trial conditions set by a judge.
In addition to any state charges that Douglas is facing, U.S. Attorney Michael Easley said that he has also filed federal charges against Douglas as well. The complaint charges Douglas with knowingly and willfully transmitting in interstate and foreign commerce from North Carolina to Virginia, communications to NCMEC via the cyber-tip reporting service, and the communications contained a threat to kidnap and injure children.
“The swift action by the Cary Police Department to mitigate this threat helped to keep the community safe,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. “We are proud to partner with Chief Terry Sult and FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of threats of violence before action is taken.”
Easley said the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Cary and Raleigh Police Departments are investigating the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad DeVoe is prosecuting the case.
Court documents show that Douglas was released from federal prison in 2016 after being accused of threatening to kill someone at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.,
Documents also show that Douglas has a criminal history dating back to 2002 and includes offenses from multiple states.
Records show that Douglas has been charged with cyberstalking three times in Wake County, but all of those cases were dismissed.
Douglas is currently in the custody of U.S. Marshals.