WASHINGTON – A man who plotted to kidnap the Obama family’s pet dogs was arrested in Washington on Wednesday with a cache of weapons and ammunition in his car, the U.S. Secret Service said.
Upon his arrest, Scott D. Stockert, 49, of Dickinson, North Dakota, made a series of outlandish claims to officers – that he was Jesus Christ, that he was the son of John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, that he planned to run for president, and that he was there to kidnap Bo or Sunny, the Obama’s dogs, the Secret Service said in a court document.
According to a filing in District of Columbia Superior Court, the Minnesota field office of the Secret Service first learned of Stockert’s intention to kidnap one of the Obamas’ Portuguese water dogs.
After Stockert drove his pickup truck from North Dakota to New York to Washington, Secret Service officers found him at a Hampton Inn at 901 6th Street NW, the court document said.
When agents asked him whether he had any weapons, he told them he had two firearms in his truck and then directed them to the truck.
Agents found the two firearms under the backseat – a 12-gauge pump shotgun and a bolt-action .22-caliber rifle. They learned that he was not registered to own a gun and arrested him, the court document said.
They also found more than 350 rounds of ammunition, a billy club and a machete with a 12-inch blade.
He was charged with carrying a rifle or shotgun outside of his home or place of business, which is illegal in most cases in the District.
At a preliminary hearing Friday morning, a judge found probable cause for the case to move forward. The judge ordered that Stockert be released into a high-intensity supervision program pending a court date to be set later.
During his release, Stockert cannot possess any real or imitation weapons, or go near the White House or Capitol, the judge ordered.
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