NY Man Who Was Allegedly Threatening Dominican Republic President, Arrested

A man in New York was arrested Monday for allegedly threatening Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, who is in the city for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) nabbed Enrique Figueroa for targeting Abinader, reported New York Post.

Figueroa, who apparently has had emotional problems, allegedly made online threats earlier for which he had to go through psychological evaluation at a hospital. A senior law enforcement official said that after he was released, he allegedly went back to the same behavior, NBC New York reported.

Court documents revealed that it was then that on Sept. 11 he tried to take a flight to another nation from John F. Kennedy Airport, but officials didn't allow him to board the plane as his passport had expired. Almost a week later, he allegedly voluntarily interviewed with law enforcement officers and told them that he shared social media posts that could be perceived as threatening, but he had no intention of harming anyone.

According to court documents, Figueroa said that he posted on social media to warn about corruption in Dominican Republic. He added that he was the one who was elected as president of the country, but did not take up the position as he wanted to fight corruption.

Last weekend, a photo of Abinader's alleged motorcade in connection to the UN General Assembly was posted by an Instagram user named Enriquefigueroatv with a Spanish caption, which translates into English as, “They have 24 hours to meet me otherwise he will be out of power in 30 days.”

However, he told law enforcement officials that the account was used by a friend, and that he was being held back from being vice president of the Dominican Republic. He let officials search his phones, and they found that though he was signed on to social media accounts that published some of the threatening posts, he didn't use the Instagram account, which he claimed to have been accessed by his friend.

An official said that they didn't find any evidence to suggest he could carry out any potential plot, but they took such threats seriously, especially because more than 100 world leaders are in New York for the UNGA.