Colorado Springs man charged with making threats about Tesla owners and presidential cabinet

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - On Tuesday, the FBI Denver’s Southern Colorado Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), along with the Colorado Springs Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service, arrested Carl Howard Payne Jr., of Colorado Springs, near a restaurant in the area of North Academy Boulevard and Montebello Drive West.

Federal prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado have charged Payne with interstate communication of threats.

According to the criminal complaint, on or about March 20, 2025, threatening emails were sent from "betweensaltandstart@proton.me" to various news media outlets across state lines. The emails detailed a “Declaration of War” against the 47th Presidential Cabinet of the United States and "further described how Tesla owners would be murdered on April 17, 2025, and thereafter, until the death of Elon Musk."

Also on this date, Carl Payne sent the same email to ProPublica and Thomson Reuters, both in New York, from Signal user “c”. And on or about April 2, 2025, Payne deposited or caused to be deposited similar threatening letters for delivery by the Postal Service to several insurance companies, the DOJ said. The return address on the letters indicated they were from “The White House,” but the letters were postmarked in Denver.

According to the DOJ, a review of Internet Protocol (IP) address information from Proton Mail, along with other information, indicates that Payne is the user of the Proton Mail account and the Signal account from which the threatening emails originated.

This investigation is being handled by the Denver Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.