Suspect arrested after FEMA pauses Hurricane Helene work in North Carolina over threats

Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A suspect has been arrested and charged with threatening Federal Emergency Management Agency workers over the weekend that forced the federal agency to pause Hurricane Helene assistance operations in some North Carolina counties.

William Jacob Parsons, 44, of Bostic, N.C., was arrested and charged Saturday with Going Armed to the Terror of the Public, a misdemeanor offense, the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office said in a statement Monday.

Authorities received a report Saturday morning of a White man armed with an assault rifle making comments about "possibly harming FEMA employees" working in Lake Lure and Chimney Rock area following Hurricane Helene.

Parsons was identified as a suspect by deputies who connected him to the vehicle associated with the man who uttered the threats.

Authorities said he was armed with a rifle and a handgun when arrested.

He was transported to the Rutherford County Sheriff's Detention Center, and was released on $10,000 bond.

The announcement comes after FEMA announced over the weekend that it had made "operational changes" in the area "based on threat information."

The Ashe County Sheriff's Office said that FEMA in "the mountain region" had been targeted with threats and "out of an abundance of caution, they have paused their process."

FEMA officials had their workers in Rutherford County, N.C., leave that jurisdiction immediately on Saturday after the threat was issued by a militia, according to local National Guards troops, The Washington Post reported . The workers, however, returned to process hurricane survivors on Sunday.

FEMA officials said the pause was temporary until they could properly analyze the threats amid a wave of misinformation and disinformation regarding the agency in the wake of the hurricane.

The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office on Monday corrected the record that no truck "loaded with militia" was involved in the threat, and that "it was determined Parsons acted alone."

FEMA has been working to help some of the hardest-hit victims of Hurricane Helene in areas where they are not pausing work.

Jordan Monaghan, deputy communications director for North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper , said the governor's office was "aware of significant misinformation online and reports of threats to workers" in the state.

"The governor has directed the Department of Public Safety to identify with local law enforcement the specific threats and rumors and coordinate with FEMA and other partners to ensure safety and security as this recovery effort continues," Monaghan said.

FEMA has been the subject of disinformation and right-wing conspiracy theories following two devastating hurricanes to hit the eastern United States during a heated political campaign.

The disinformation and conspiracies have been amplified by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump , who has repeatedly made false claims about the federal response to the hurricanes.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters last week that the spread of lies and conspiracy theories was convincing those who need federal help to turn the assistance down.

"It's absolutely the worst I have ever seen," she said.

"It's creating distrust in the federal government, but also the state government, and we have so many first responders that have been working to go out and help these communities."

President Joe Biden has lambasted the disinformation campaign, accusing those pushing it of attempting to hurt his administration and democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris at the expense of the American public.

"Those who do it do it to try to damage the administration," the president said Oct. 8 during a press conference on the government's disaster response. "But it misleads people. It puts people in circumstances where they panic, where they really, really really worry."

"It's un-American," he said. "It really is."

FEMA on Oct. 9 created a website debunking some of the disinformation plaguing its response to Hurricane Helene, which first hit Florida on Sept. 26, and Hurricane Milton, which made landfall, also in Florida, on Oct. 9.

"We know that significant misinformation online contributes to threats against response workers on the ground, and the safety of responders must be a priority," Cooper said Monday in a statement.

"At my direction, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety is helping partners like FEMA to coordinate with law enforcement to ensure their safety and security as they continue their important work."