TAMPA, Fla. – FBI Special Agents considered an intolerant 60-year-old Florida man’s messages dangerous enough to interview him, ask him to stop, and later get serious about a case when he didn’t listen.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office described the evidence collected against Richard G. Kantwill as “approximately 100 threats and various other disturbing messages” to about 42 victims from August 2019 to July 2020.
Kantwill, a troubled Tampa area dentist, allegedly bragged on Facebook about owning weapons, “enjoying the violence” as a U.S. Army veteran, and about how he “loved creating widows and orphans.”
Three other expletive-laden messages to three different victims have him facing the threat of up to 15 years in federal prison, according to federal prosecutors.
One of the messages in the indictment was to the author of an article about former President Donald Trump. The message included, “You are gay, I can tell,” and “the great ghetto [expletive] Obama,” and “Hire extra security ... you’re gonna need it. I plan on [expletive] you up ... just for the fun of it.”
The indictment also charged Kantwill for a message addressed to a “fake” reverend.
“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,” Kantwill wrote, according to prosecutors.
The third victim in the indictment received a racist message.
“You will die like every other [racial slur],” Kantwill wrote, according to prosecutors.
Records show Kanwill is licensed to practice dentistry until February 2026. He has a troubled past. According to Florida Department of Health records, he defied an agreement to stop practicing as a dentist in 2007, and the Board of Dentistry reprimanded and fined him.
Kantwill was indicted and Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested him on Tuesday and were holding him without bond on Saturday with a U.S. Marshal hold.
U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced on Thursday that Kantwill was facing three counts of interstate transmission of a threat to injure.
The messages (offensive content)