A New Hampshire-based Federal Aviation Administration employee has been arrested and charged following threats made against President Donald Trump, authorities said. Dean DelleChiaie, 35, a mechanical engineer at the FAA from Nashua, sent an email to the White House on April 21 stating he would "neutralize/kill" Trump, according to court documents.
The email read: "I, Dean DelleChiaie, am going neutralize/kill you - Donald John Trump - because you decided to kill kids - and say that it was War - when in reality - it is terrorism. God knows your actions and where you belong."
DelleChiaie was arrested Monday and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrea K. Johnstone on Tuesday, facing a charge of interstate communication of a threat. The judge ordered him held without bail while he awaits trial. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The case unfolded over months of escalating red flags that eventually prompted federal intervention. In January, the FAA first alerted the Secret Service after discovering that DelleChiaie had used his work computer to conduct suspicious searches, including methods to smuggle a gun into a federal building, statistical information about anti-Trump sentiment in the population, and the phrase "I am going to kill Donald John Trump."
Court documents also reveal that DelleChiaie searched for personal details about Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, including their home addresses and information about their children. After conducting these searches, he asked the FAA's IT department to clear his search history, a request that triggered an internal alert.
The FAA suspended DelleChiaie and forwarded the information to the Secret Service. In early February, a Secret Service agent and Nashua police officer visited his apartment to interview him. During that meeting, DelleChiaie acknowledged conducting the searches and admitted to owning three firearms. He also told officers he was remorseful, attributing his anger to disagreements with Trump administration policies, presidential pardons, and the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
DelleChiaie disclosed that he was in therapy, drinks alcohol to the point of blacking out, and uses marijuana daily. Investigators noted several handwritten phrases on a whiteboard attached to his refrigerator, including "Calm down more" and "Say arrest me 'I am going to murder Donald John Trump - per defense of oath."
The charging documents do not indicate whether DelleChiaie possessed the three firearms legally, and there is no record of authorities confiscating them following the February interview.
The arrest comes as Trump and his administration have faced multiple security threats. On the same day DelleChiaie appeared in court, another defendant, Cole Tomas Allen, was hit with additional charges in connection with an April 25 shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, where Trump was present. Allen now faces an assault charge on top of his previous attempted assassination and firearms counts, with a maximum potential sentence of life in prison.
DelleChiaie filed paperwork Tuesday requesting a public defender to represent him. He has not yet entered a plea.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The case shows how federal agencies are catching domestic threats earlier in the pipeline, but it also raises questions about how many warning signs slip through before someone acts."
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