Pinellas County man accused of making threats against MacDill Air Force Base

Man charged with making threats against MacDill

A Pinellas County man is in custody in connection with threats that were made against MacDill Air Force base last week. FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports on what he is accused of.

TAMPA, Fla. - According to federal documents, a man has been arrested in connection with a recent threat made against MacDill Air Force Base.

Jonathan Elder, 35, was arrested on Monday. Federal documents say he made a call to the base on March 18, referencing a bomb placed near the visitors center.

The backstory:

The base has been under heightened security after officials found a suspicious package near the Dale Mabry Gate visitor center on March 16.

MacDill AFB moved to FPCON Charlie, the second-highest military threat level.

Later that week, the FBI said field screening detected possible energetic materials, but said it was still investigating.

On March 18, traffic in and out of the main entrance to MacDill AFB appeared to be operating normally.

Around 11 a.m., a K9 was seen with military police walking the property outside the entrance. Shortly after, the entrance closed and the shelter in place was issued.

The base reopened a couple of hours later and base officials said the threat was cleared.

Dig deeper:

A federal criminal complaint says a call was made to the main phone line on MacDill Air Force Base around 9:11 a.m. on March 18.

The caller reportedly said, 'How did you like the surprise at the MacDill Visitor Center?', then yelled, 'Tick tick boom, it's gonna be between your eyes'. The complaint says the caller then hung up.

This sent the base into a shelter in place.

What we know:

Federal investigators discovered a call from the same number was made around 8:50 a.m., where the caller said, 'Did you enjoy your pipe bombs at the front gate of MacDill'? The caller also reportedly made a number of violent threats.

According to the criminal complaint, the person who answered that call didn't recognize the number and believed the caller had dialed the wrong number.

FBI agents say they traced the caller's number to an assisted living facility in St. Pete where Elder lives.

When Elder was questioned, he reportedly admitted to calling MacDill AFB and claimed his statement about the pipe bomb was meaningless 'garbage'.

The criminal complaint also says Elder told investigators that he had no grievances with MacDill AFB, and added that he believes the CIA is a terrorist organization.

What we don't know:

It's not clear whether Elder has any true connection to the suspicious package that was found at the base last week.

Federal agents say they discovered that Elder was identified as a person of interest during a threat assessment last year and had a previous risk protection order filed against him. They say that order recently expired.

The complaint says Elder also has an extensive Baker Act history dating back to 2014, which involves threats to shoot others and build pipe bombs.

According to the complaint, FBI records show that Elder called the FBI's National Threat Operations Center on March 4 asking for a job.

According to Pinellas County records, Elder has previously been charged with alleged stalking and making a false 911 call.