Press Release: Probable cause found in social media threat hearing

OXFORD, Miss. (PRESS RELEASE) – US Attorney William C. Lamar and Christopher Freeze, Special Agent in Charge at the FBI announced today that Nathan Caleb Brown, age 19, of Desoto County, Mississippi, appeared today before United States Magistrate Judge Roy Percy at the Federal Courthouse in Oxford, Mississippi pursuant to a Criminal Complaint and Arrest Warrant charging him with transmitting threats in interstate commerce using social media platforms, such as Twitter, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 875(c).

At the conclusion of a preliminary hearing and detention hearing, Magistrate Judge Percy
determined that there was probable cause to believe that Nathan Caleb Brown had communicated threats via the internet regarding Snapchat headquarters as well as threats referencing a school shooting similar to the 1999 Columbine mass shooting and ordered Brown detained pending presentation of the case to the Grand Jury.

The public is reminded that a Criminal Complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt.

The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the United States
has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.