A South Bend man could face federal charges after police say he threatened to incite violence at a Black Lives Matter rally in the city over the weekend.
Isaiah Deonte Jovan Beavers, 26, was charged in federal court with one count of making threats online, according to court documents.
He appeared in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher A. Nuechterlein on Monday for an initial hearing and will return to court Wednesday.
Beavers is accused of making several threatening Facebook posts inciting violence at rallies and encouraging others to be violent against police officers.
One of the posts involved a picture with information about a peaceful Black Lives Matter rally in South Bend that was set to happen Saturday night, July 9. Though the picture said the event was to be peaceful, someone posting under the username Thoty Nut shared the picture and said he would show up with bottles filled with gasoline because he wanted to “burn this [expletive] downnn” (sic). The post also had emojis of a gun, buildings and fire.
A concerned citizen tipped South Bend Police off about the post. Investigators found other threatening posts on the page and other pages connected to the account. Eventually police identified the Facebook user as Beavers, court documents stated.
Beavers was arrested by South Bend Police and FBI agents on Saturday a few hours before the Black Lives Matter rally, according to online jail records. The rally on South Bend was peaceful and nobody was arrested there.
He is being held without bond at St. Joseph County Jail.