Thinking about making an off-the-cuff comment directed at the president? Think carefully.
A University of Oklahoma student was investigated by the Secret Service when a comment he made on thefacebook.com was interpreted as a threat.
Oklahoma freshman Saul Martinez said he was perusing thefacebook groups about three months ago when he stumbled across a group called "Bush Sucks."
Martinez said he was amused by a comment another student made about having her 'cute fish' replace the president and decided to reply.
"I said, 'I think we should replace him with your pet fish. Or, we could all donate a dollar and raise millions of dollars to hire an assassin to kill the president and replace him with a monkey,'" Martinez said. "I didn't ever think about it again."
Martinez said he was washing his face when he looked up and saw a "dark man in a dark suit and trench coat standing in the doorway" of his dorm room Mar. 1.
The man, Secret Service Agent Dana West, questioned Martinez for about an hour and asked for his criminal and medical history. West also asked if he was obsessed with assassination, Martinez said.
"He told me that a concerned student that read [the comment] reported it to them, but the university must have given him all of my information," Martinez said. "He even told me he was going to come take me out of class, which means they gave him that information, too."
Martinez said he has not been contacted since March 1. He said he had no idea what he said was illegal.
Jeff Shelton, assistant special agent in charge at the Oklahoma City office of the United States Secret Service, said all threats reported to the Service are investigated.
"Unfortunately, ignorance is not allowed to be an excuse," Shelton said. "A threat is a threat."
United States Law 18 USC 871 is the specific statute that makes a threat against the president illegal, Shelton said.
First-year Engineering student Dan Phan said because thefacebook is popular among students here at the University, it is possible that a similar incident could occur.
"It's definitely a possibility," Phan said. "Obviously, there are some pretty liberal people here who aren't afraid to speak their minds."
Phan is a member of the University's facebook group, "W sucks -- go home George Bush."
"I'm giving props to that kid [Martinez]," Phan said. "It's freedom of speech, you know. It just feels like it's more of a political way to deal with internal problems."
Shelton said although students have freedom of speech, there are boundaries.
"If you use basic common sense, you have First Amendment rights," Shelton said. "It's a dangerous world. We don't have the luxury of allowing people to make threats and get away with it."
Martinez said he had never made political comments before on thefacebook and would not repeat the incident.
"The only thing I can say is don't threaten to kill the president on the Internet because they will come search you," he said.
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