A shock Texas salesman allegedly angry over a $543 debt threatened to come to a Capital One office with “a knife and gasoline” and “do things that are unforgivable,” according to a federal affidavit.
According to an FBI affidavit, 34-year-old Taylor Bullard allegedly targeted the financial giant after years of making similar threats against other companies — including one threatening to release anthrax and another storming a company office with an AK-47. Threats to blow up were included. Received by The Independent,
Frustrated at being chased for a $543 debt, he emailed Capital One’s collection agency on Dec. 12 and told them he had already paid, the affidavit says.
“Call me before I show up to one of their places with a knife and gasoline,” Bullard allegedly wrote, according to a screenshot in the affidavit.
“I’m 34 years old with a job making over 100K and now it’s time for me to take aim at the people and companies that have ruined my ability to live the life I deserve,” the email said. The debt “has ruined my ability to purchase a home,” the email said.
“I will personally come to your executive team. Please call me before doing things that are inexcusable and that will make your executive team question their life choices,” he reportedly wrote, signing off with his full name.
According to the document, investigators found at least three other incidents in which Bullard — who sold gourmet beef jerky online — threatened corporations he believed had “wronged” him.
In 2017, he told an unnamed company that he would “release anthrax at one of their shows and/or kill myself in public.”
According to the affidavit, he told the FBI, which investigated the threat, that “he wanted to get attention, see companies harassed and had no intention of hurting himself or others.”
Bullard then left a voicemail with the customer service number of a financial company in 2022, threatening to “go to one of their branches armed with an AK-47 and shoot up the drive, as well.. .will damage an ATM,” the affidavit states.
Later that year he threatened violence against Carvana in a series of tweets after claiming that the online auto dealer had sold him a defective vehicle.
Bullard reportedly said in another social media post, “I’m going to run the lemon you sold me through my front door during the i10 sale in Houston on Friday.” “Prepare for chaos(.)”
He was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Houston on December 20 and charged with one count of sending threatening interstate communications.
If found guilty, he could face up to five years in jail.
He was released on $25,000 bond and will be tried at Capital One’s headquarters in Virginia.
The Independent said no lawyer was listed for him and his listed phone number went straight to voicemail.
Capital One did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.
This arrest comes as American companies are under stress UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson shot dead Outside a Manhattan hotel earlier this month, suspect Luigi Mangione was reportedly motivated by anger over the ethics of the medical insurance industry.
(TagstoTranslate)US News(T)Banks(T)Capital One(T)CEOS(T)Crime
