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TRUMP ATTACK FOILED
Oklahoma man drove here with loaded gun, police say
By
Leon Bogdan
Published: August 2, 2018
BRIAR CREEK — An Oklahoma man was arrested here and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail for allegedly threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump and his family.
He was taken into custody and his weapon confiscated Tuesday after he had driven here nonstop to meet a local woman with whom he had discussed politics on Twitter, arrest papers say.
Trump is scheduled to appear at a rally this evening in Wilkes-Barre.
Alerted by the woman of the threat to the president, State Police began searching for Jeffrey Gardner Boyd, 55, of Tulsa. Troopers from the Shickshinny barracks found him Tuesday afternoon, parked at the Giant Foods store.
Inside his vehicle they found a loaded Springfield.45-caliber pistol and two extra magazines, both full, police said.
Mystery woman
Boyd is reported to have said that he drove nonstop from Oklahoma to Columbia County to meet the woman. She is a Trump supporter and had posted pro-Trump remarks, which he had been following on her Twitter account in recent days, arrest papers say. Police did not publicly identify the woman.
She told authorities that Boyd told her he feared she “may be in danger.”
Boyd also told her the CIA was “sending messages directly into his head,” and that he was hearing “voices” telling him to kill Trump as well as Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner.
The president is to appear at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre tonight at a rally supporting Congressman Lou Barletta’s campaign for the U.S. Senate.
‘Shocked’ by visitor
State Police say the woman showed up at the Shickshinny barracks to report she was “shocked” when the man she knew from Twitter only as “Jeff from Tulsa” pulled into her driveway Monday.
In an interview Wednesday with the Press Enterprise, the woman emphasized that she had no relationship with the man, and she was “quite stunned” when he showed up at her door.
She was even more surprised to learn later that he had been able to learn a lot about her remotely, even though she had been careful not to reveal her identity on Twitter. He apparently matched her image to others she had posted years ago on social media, then figured out her name, address and other information. He even sent her a spreadsheet showing her all he had learned about her.
“I was taken aback, I didn’t know what I was dealing with,” she said.
Fortunately, she said, her father happened to be at her house mowing. Still, rather than admit the man to her home, she agreed to meet him the next day at Hogs Hollow Saloon along Route 93 in Briar Creek Township, arrest papers say.
‘Hell of a story’
At lunch, he told her he had “one hell of a story to tell you.”
Boyd then began describing how the CIA was conducting “tests” on him and sending “messages” into his head. He also told her he was hearing “voices” telling him to kill Trump and the president’s family.
She said he told her that the voices were instructing him to go to Washington, D.C., but he said he intended to stay the night in the Berwick area. Knowing that Trump was due to appear nearby this week, she pressed him for more details about his intentions. The more she pressed, the more wary he became, she recalled.
At least six times during lunch, her visitor excused himself from the table, the woman said.
As soon as they parted ways, she said she went to the State Police.
Unemployed
Boyd, whom arrest papers say was born in Colorado and also goes by the name Jeff Manley, was fingerprinted and brought for arraignment before on-duty District Judge Marv Shrawder in Danville.
He told the court he was unemployed, and denied having any criminal record.
He is facing four counts of making terroristic threats to murder Trump and his family. All are graded as first-degree misdemeanors under state law. It’s possible federal authorities may seek to pursue prosecution, although that’s not yet known.
Boyd is being held in Columbia County Prison awaiting a district court appearance.
Leon Bogdan can be reached at 570-784-2121, extension 1307, or by email at leon.
[email protected].