John Gimbel, Northern California Man, Charged with Sending Threatening Emails to President Barack Obama

John Gimbel, 59, a Northern California resident, was arrested October 6 and remains in federal custody without bail after being charged with sending racist, profanity-laced email threatening to kill President Barack Obama and his family. He was arrested  by U.S. Secret Service officers and indicted two days before the president's Thursday appearances at a pair of Democratic fundraisers in the city. He is accused of sending the message to Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, a Louisville newspaper and about 70 other people on Sept. 28. The Secret Service is taking no chances, given the long list of volatile emails directed at other presidents, including President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the Crescent City police chief over the past two years.

Gimbel is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. According to media reports, Randall Davis, a defense lawyer assigned to serve as Gimbel's co-counsel because Gimbel wants to represent himself, said he expects him to plead not guilty. He said Gimbel contends he was only exercising his free speech rights. That's the problem. Where does it end? Given the fact that there have been American presidents assassinated, the Secret Service has to err on the side of caution.  There have been multiple assassination attempts and plot on U.S. presidents.

Four sitting presidents were assassinated -- Abraham Lincoln (16th president) who was murdered on Good Friday, April 14, 1865 by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln. James A. Garfield (20th president) was shot by Charles Guiteau in Washington D.C., July 2, 1881, less than four months after he took office. He died 11 days later on September 19, 1881, due to infections.

William McKinley (25th president)  was murdered September 6, 1901, at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. He died eight days later on September 14, 1901. John F. Kennedy (35th president) was assassinated November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, while riding with his wife in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the murder. There have been assassination attempts made on other presidents, with two being injured in the process -- Theodore Roosevelt and sitting President Ronald Reagan. So, I don't blame the Secret Service to lock this man up. You just don't know who is capable of going on the way in an attempt to murder the president.

The e-mail rambled on and included specific references to first lady Michelle Obama and the phrase, "do it to his children and family first in front of him. Failure to comply. That'll teach him," according to the indictment. According to a criminal complaint prepared by the Secret Service, similar e-mail was sent earlier in the month. Authorities said when officers interviewed Gimbel at his home, he admitted sending the first message but said he wanted to get attention, not hurt Obama. He was warned that he would be prosecuted if he sent any more.