A plea agreement has been reached with the Penn Yan man arrested earlier this year on a felony charge of criminal anarchy.
The investigation into Tyler Newkirk, which involved the FBI, began after he composed and disseminated written materials in the Yates County village calling for the violent overthrow of the Local, State, and Federal Governments. The 33-year-old also called several U.S. Military installations and threatened service members. These threats ranged from personal threats to military members and their families, as well as threats to topple military installations. Newkirk also took to social media where he posted messages calling for attacks on military personnel, local law enforcement, government officials, and banks. He also called for the public beheading of government and police officials who did not go along with his plans. Newkirk claimed his goal was to topple our existing government and replace it with a new system.
At the time of his January arrest, police said there was no indication Newkirk had the means to carry out any large-scale attack or that he worked with anyone else on these plans. Law enforcement was originally notified of Newkirk’s suspicious online activity by a concerned community member.
In Yates County Court this week, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making a terroristic threat and was sentenced to time served and five years of probation.
