Riverview Woman Pleads Guilty To Sending Threatening Messages To Palestinian Americans

Tampa, Florida -United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Andrea Rubiano (49, Riverview) pleaded guilty to transmitting a threat in interstate commerce and making false statements to a federal agent. Rubiano faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, in October 2023, Rubiano sent threatening text messages to 12 Palestinian Americans residing in the Middle District of Florida. By way of example, one of the victims received the following messages from Rubiano:

Palestinians in Tampa must die!!

You Family [the victim's surname] are fucking shit

They are trash they should die first

The [victim's surname] family is shit in Tampa

In the mosque we are going to behead them and drag them alive

like rats fucking Palestinians with their wives and children

We took you out of your land like rats, now we are going to get

you out of here you fucking bastards, [the victim's surname]

brothers.

Rubiano also sent the victim the Israeli flag, two images of what appears to be a public demonstration, 12 Palestinian flag emojis, 23 skull-and-crossbones flag emojis, 10 Star of David emojis, seven lit cannonball emojis, and five rat emojis.

A few days after Rubiano sent the threatening messages, a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed Rubiano. At the time, Rubiano denied sending the threatening messages and affirmatively stated that she would never threaten [the Victim's] family. Several months later, Rubiano admitted that she had willfully and knowingly lied to the Special Agent during the first interview. More specifically, Rubiano admitted that, on October 13 and 14, 2023, she had sent threatening messages to several Palestinian Americans and that she had not been truthful when she told the Special Agent otherwise.

As part of the plea agreement, Rubiano also agreed to a special finding that she intentionally selected Palestinian Americans and/or Arabic individuals as the objects of her threats based on their actual or perceived race, religion, national origin, or ethnicity.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations' Joint Terrorism Task Force. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lindsey Schmidt.

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