(Tribune News Service) — A dentist ignored the FBI’s warning to stop sending threats after he emailed a violent message to a writer and threatened to kill and torture someone he called “anti-Christian” in a text message, court documents show.

Richard Glenn Kantwill, a dentist in Tampa, Florida, sent dozens more death threats and “disturbing” messages to 42 people over the span of 10 months following his October 2019 interview with the FBI, according to federal prosecutors.

In an Instagram message to one victim in July 2020, Kantwill wrote, “cannot wait to shoot your ghetto (expletive) in the street” and used racist slurs, court documents say.

When the FBI tried to interview Kantwill again in July 2021, he refused and denied “doing anything illegal,” according to prosecutors.

Between August 2019 and July 2020, Kantwill sent the threats and messages to politicians, celebrities, authors and others — people whose political views differed from his and individuals who were a different race than him.

He “blamed the Government, minorities, and other entities for being the reason he had been speaking out,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.

Now, Kantwill, 60, has been indicted on three counts of interstate transmission of a threat to injure, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced in a June 20 news release.

He was arrested June 18 and appeared in court for an arraignment that day, according to court records, which show he’s pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Kantwill’s court-appointed federal public defender, Samuel Landes, didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on June 21.

Kantwill is a U.S. Army veteran with no criminal history and practices dentistry in Zephyrhillis, a Tampa suburb, Landes wrote in a 21-page memorandum in which he argued the court should release him from federal custody.

Landes contended there’s no evidence that shows Kantwill “has even the slightest inclination to act on any of these threats.”

Victim installs surveillance cameras out of fear

Before Kantwill’s October 2019 interview with the FBI, he sent an email insulting an author, saying he read their article about “The Great Donald Trump” that he found “blatantly prejudiced,” according to prosecutors.

“Hire extra security…you’re gonna need it. I plan on (expletive) you up…just for the fun of it,” Kantwill wrote in the Sept. 5, 2019, email, court documents say.

A few weeks later, Kantwill texted the death threat to someone he called a “fake Reverend,” according to prosecutors.

“We are going to kill you. Torture first, then death. You will deny Christ, just like Judas because you are a coward. Either way…prepare to die…,” the text message said, court documents show.

The person who received this text became fearful and spent nearly $4,500 on surveillance cameras and installed them, according to prosecutors.

Kantwill’s Facebook message history shows Kantwill bragged about having many weapons and would reference his military service, reminiscing on “enjoying the violence,” prosecutors wrote in court documents.

Over Facebook, he once wrote “...and I loved creating widows and orphans,” according to court documents.

A ‘danger to the community’

During Kantwill’s detention hearing on June 18, he went against his legal counsel’s advice and “spontaneously told the Court” that his statements were “empty threats,” Landes wrote in the memo in support of his pretrial release.

He said Kantwill experiences depression and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his service in the U.S. military, and that he has “struggled with alcoholism.”

Landes argued Kantwill “would benefit from screening for drug and alcohol treatment,” and that his “history and circumstances strongly suggest that he would continue to practice dentistry and avoid any contact with past or current alleged victims” if the court allowed his release.

Meanwhile, prosecutors argued against his release.

“Based on Kantwill’s explicit and detailed threats of injury and death to politicians, celebrities, authors, and others who disagreed with his political beliefs or were a different race than Kantwill, the government fears what Kantwill may do if a patient were to express such contrasting beliefs or exist as a different race than Kantwill,” they wrote in a memorandum.

“Kantwill is a danger to the community,” prosecutors said.

If Kantwill is convicted on all three counts against him, he would face up to 15 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

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