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A Texas jerky seller allegedly threatened to show up to a Capital One office with “a machete and gasoline” and “do things that are unforgivable” in a rage at a $543 debt, according to a federal affidavit.
Taylor Bullard, 34, allegedly targeted the financial giant years after similar threats against other companies — including one to release anthrax and another to shoot up a company office with an AK-47, according to an FBI affidavit obtained by The Independent.
He emailed Capital One’s collection agency on Dec. 12 in anger at being chased for a $543 debt that he insisted he had already paid back, the affidavit said.
“Call me before I show up to one of their locations with a machete and gasoline,” Bullard allegedly wrote, according to a screenshot in the affidavit.
“I’m 34 with a 100k+ job and it’s time I target the people and companies that have ruined my ability to live the life I deserve,” the email said, saying the debt “ruined my ability to buy a home.”
“I will be coming after your executive team personally. Please call me before I do things that are unforgivable and will make your executive team question their life choices,” he allegedly wrote, signing off with his full name.
Investigators found at least three other incidents in which Bullard — who sold gourmet beef jerky online — had threatened corporations he believed had “wronged” him, according to the document.
In 2017, he told an unnamed company he would “release anthrax at one of their events and/or kill himself in public.”
He told the FBI, who investigated the threat, that “he wanted attention, wanted to see the companies sweat, and did not intend to hurt himself or others,” according to the affidavit.
Bullard then left a voicemail with a financial company’s customer service number in 2022 threatening to go to one of their branches armed “with an AK-47 and shoot up the drive through [sic], as well as… damage an ATM,” the affidavit states.
Later that year he also threatened violence against Carvana in a series of tweets after claiming the online auto dealer sold him a faulty vehicle.
“I’m going to drive the lemon you sold me through your front doors in Friday off i10 in Houston,” Bullard allegedly said in another social media post. “Be ready for chaos a**holes[.]”
He was arrested by US Marshals in Houston on Dec. 20 and is charged with one count of sending threatening interstate communications.
If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.
He was released on a $25,000 bond and will be tried in Virginia, home to Capital One’s headquarters. An attorney was not listed for him, and his listed phone number went straight to voicemail, the Independent said. Capital One did not respond to the paper’s request for comment.
The arrest comes as American corporations have been on edge since UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside of a Manhattan hotel earlier this month, with suspect Luigi Mangione allegedly motivated by anger at the medical insurance industry’s morals.
English (US)