Missouri man indicted for threatening SLO County elected official and residents electronically
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – David William Platek of Springfield, Missouri was indicted in federal court last week for texting and posting threats online against an elected official and residents of San Luis Obispo County.
According to an indictment filed on Jan. 28 of this year in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Platek texted a person, only identified as Person A, threats directed at an elected official of San Luis Obispo County, simply identified in the indictment as Victim 1, as well as general threats against residents.
Beginning on or around Dec. 9, 2024, Platek texted some of the following statements to Person A including:
- "I’ll do [sic] out surrounded by the bodies of the [Victim 1]’s family on a Christmas day, or something more heinous, since people have already judged me"
- "I’ve got the ammo, I just need to rent a uhaul and drive to CA. He took everything I made from me, and I want to take it from him"
- "I suddenly understand the mind of the worst people: they go into those schools because they know it will leave a permanent hole in people. It’s making way to [sic] much sense to me. It would be more fitting to leave [Victim 1] and those responsible alive in an aftermath to explain what happened"
The indictment stated that Platek reposted a previous post from Victim 1 and changed the profile picture of one of his social media accounts to the character Luigi, an alleged reference to 26-year-old Luigi Mangione who was indicted for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson late last year.
Platek later told Person A that those actions were intended to cause, "[Victim 1’s] heart will skip a
beat when he sees this" and "no one is ever going to see this except [Victim 1]. I have no followers. And I hope [Victim 1] is left believing I have no other options either" detailed the indictment.
On Dec. 16, 2024, Platek texted Person A some of the following messages:
- "I have one months rent left and that’s enough to get me to [San Luis Obispo] in a rented van. There’s a small farm a block from my apartment and I’ve been eyeing the pallet of potassium nitrate they’ve had sitting on the back half of the farm"
- "I’d let [Victim 1’s] children live. I’d wait for a sick day, let them live with the guilt of watching their classmates die because their father is corrupts [sic]"
- "I wouldn’t even kill myself. I’d want the trial. ‘I am the monster [Victim 1] and the broken justice system made me. You let it all happen, you all paid the price.’ Bullets are cheap and children are plentiful"
- "[San Luis Obispo] wants to destroy my life, I’ll blow up one of their schools"
- "The second political assassination of 2024, David Platek assassinated [Victim 1] two days before his second act, a large explosion killing 400, mostly children in San Luis Obispo"
Platek was charged in San Luis Obispo County for felony identification theft for impersonating Kevin P. Rice and publishing false statements intending to ruin Price's reputation in August of 2019.
According to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office, the charges filed against Platek in 2019 were dismissed in November of 2022.
This was the first time the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office had filed charges against a person pretending to be someone else on Facebook.