A Montana man has pleaded guilty to one count of threatening and extorting Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. Kermit Ty Poulson faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Poulson, who lives with mental illness, was investigated by the Portland FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Portland Police Bureau.
His guilty plea stems from comments he made on the mayor’s Instagram account last year, threatening to firebomb Wheeler’s home if the mayor didn’t dismiss a Portland Police officer involved in an on-duty shooting.
Poulson’s defense attorney, Bear Wilner-Nugent, said his client has bipolar disorder. Poulson is also partially paralyzed as a result of an accident 15 years ago. He was a pedestrian hit by a car and uses a wheelchair.
Wilner-Nugent said his client has suffered terribly in jail awaiting the settlement of his case. The attorney said there are mitigating factors for his client’s behavior, and he will argue for probation at a sentencing hearing on October 2.
“This is a person with significant mental illness,” Wilner-Nugent said. “He admitted on the record that he was drunk, he was off his meds, and he was swept up in a heated environment.”
Poulson posted the threats to Instagram after participating in a protest against the fatal shooting of Patrick Kimmons.
According to The Oregonian, Poulson testified in court that other protesters said they would hurt him unless he posted the messages threatening the mayor. Poulson made a similar claim in a lawsuit he filed and then withdrew alleging he'd been mistreated at the Multnomah County Detention Center.
"It was Antifa who forced me to text the mayor," he wrote.
City Council voted to withdraw Portland’s officers from the joint terrorism task force on February 12, while federal prosecutors were working on the case against Poulson.
At a public council work session in February, leadership from the Portland FBI stressed that much of their work involves assessing threats that eventually "wash out" because they aren't credible and diverting people who need help as opposed to criminal prosecution.
Jessica Anderson, a supervisor of the FBI international terrorism squad in Portland, told the council that diversion work can include connecting people to mental health and drug resources.
“That is a very common outcome in the assessments, and we’re much more successful at doing that when we have the participation of local officers,” Anderson said.
Wilner-Nugent said while his client narrowly committed a felony extortion with his demand that Wheeler fire a police officer, he was clearly not intending to carry out his threat against the mayor.
“I think terrorism is something a little larger and showier than we had here. I think this is one person posting internet comments. Making intemperate remarks on the internet is a national pastime,” he said.
Wilner-Nugent said Portland police officers made no effort to connect Poulson to drug treatment or mental health resources.
“When he was arrested and his cellphone was seized, they didn’t take into account his mental illness. I don’t know that they were aware of it,” he said. “People with bipolar disorder don’t wear labels.”