A TikTok video featuring crosshairs superimposed on the forehead of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, seemingly offering a $45,000 bounty for a “hit” on her, has led to the arrest of a 29-year-old man in Minnesota, according to allegations by the FBI.

The individual, named by federal authorities as Tyler Maxon Avalos, faces charges of interstate transmission of a threat to harm another person. This development was initially reported by Seamus Hughes.

Amidst a climate of increasing threats, federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) makes it a crime to transmit “any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another.” If convicted, this offense carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison.

As detailed in an affidavit, a TikTok user in Michigan reported Avalos’ alleged threat to authorities on October 9, describing it as a potential murder-for-hire plot.

Court documents revealed an image resembling a wanted poster featuring Bondi’s picture, marked with a “sniper-scope red dot” on her forehead. The poster included the text “WANTED: Pam Bondi / REWARD: 45,000 / DEAD OR ALIVE / (PREFERABLY DEAD),” along with the caption “cough cough* when they don’t serve us then what?”

The FBI said that the TikTok poster had the username “Wacko” with an anarchist symbol in place of the “a.”

“Additionally, the suspect user’s TikTok page had a link to An Anarchist FAQ book pinned to his page,” court documents said.

The feds added that Avalos was arrested in St. Paul on Oct. 16, after investigators checked “Minnesota state supervision records” and found him at the same address listed in that database due to his prior “criminal history.”

The TikTok post allegedly targeting Attorney General Pam Bondi (DOJ).

“Your Affiant also checked Avalos’s criminal history and learned that he has a multistate conviction history including a July 2022 felony stalking conviction from Dakota County, an August 2016 felony third-degree domestic battery from Polk County, Florida, and an April 2016 misdemeanor domestic assault from Dakota County, which appears to have been reduced from a felony domestic assault by strangulation charge,” the FBI affidavit said.

Court documents from Wednesday additionally showed that U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko granted Avalos a release from custody, subject to various conditions. Those conditions included no travel outside of Minnesota, continuing mental health treatment, no possession of weapons, no consumption of alcohol, a curfew, GPS monitoring, and no internet access without approval.

The government will have to prove that the post in question constituted a “true threat,” which could be a steep hill to climb in this case given the First Amendment’s protections of political speech and hyperbole.

Law&Crime sought comment from Avalos’ attorney of record, Daniel Gerdts.

In response, the attorney said he had no comment “except to note that” his client “is not guilty of any crime.”