GROVELAND TOWNSHIP (WWJ) - An elderly Oakland County man is facing charges for allegedly making multiple threats against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
Michigan State Police say their investigation began Wednesday after being notified that Benson was being threatened.
"The individual had both contacted the secretary by voicemail and spoke with somebody in her office, and made some threats due to some of her political thought process, I guess is the best way to put it," Lt. Mike Shaw told WWJ's Sandra McNeill. "He just was upset with her political stances."
Troopers identified the suspect as a 72-year-old Groveland Township man and executed a search warrant at his home, during which he was taken into custody without incident. Weapons were also seized during the search.
The suspect remains lodged at the Oakland County Jail.
"We currently have an arrest packet at the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office looking at possibly charging him with making a terrorist threat," said Shaw.
An investigation is ongoing.
Shaw said there's nothing wrong about disagreeing with another person's political stance, but there is a proper way to express those feelings.
"I think people need to realize we're living in a divided country right now, it's political and other things, but we will not tolerate anybody making threats against a political officer or anybody else in the state. Just the mere fact of making those types of threats is enough to get you arrested and charged, and we'll seek the prosecution available to us for people who do that," he said. "It's ok to object to politics but threatening somebody and threatening their life -- we're not going to tolerate that."