A 60-year-old Florida dentist has been indicted on accusations of sending threats and disturbing messages to politicians, celebrities, authors, and others, including an Oregon minister who disagreed with his political beliefs, according to prosecutors.

The Rev. Chuck Currie, a Portland minister in the United Church of Christ and university chaplain emeritus at Pacific University, identified himself as “Victim 2” in the indictment charging Richard Glenn Kantwill with three counts of interstate transmission of a threat to harm another.

On Sept. 24, 2019, Kantwill sent a text message to Currie, threatening to torture and kill him, called him an “immoral degenerate” and a fake minister, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said the text originated in Tampa and that “Victim 2” had installed nearly $4,500 worth of surveillance cameras due to his genuine fear of Kantwill, according to court records. Currie said that Pacific University installed and paid for the extra security cameras while he was still as chaplain for the school.

In emails to news organizations and posts on social media, Currie wrote Monday that “it is imperative for our democracy that those making violent and obscene threats against people they disagree with politically are held accountable for their crimes.”

He thanked the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office for arresting Kantwill and he said he will continue to speak out against discrimination of all kinds.

Kantwill sent threats through social media, email and text messages to about 42 different people between August 2019 and July 2020, according to federal prosecutors in Florida. But investigators were able to connect Kantwill only to a handful of the threats through an IP address that proved he was in Florida when they were sent, prosecutors wrote in court records.

In another message sent in September 2019, he wrote to another victim: “God bless the Great President Trump and his family. F--k you and yours. Hire extra security ... you’re gonna need it.”

The FBI interviewed Kantwill on Oct. 15, 2019, after receiving a complaint about his messages. During that interview, federal agents warned him that his messages were perceived as threatening and he needed to stop, according to prosecutors.

Yet Kantwill spent the next 10 months sending more threats to more than 40 people, according to prosecutors.

In some of his Facebook messages, Kantwill is accused of boasting about his weapons collection, indicating that he had a large collection that he would “NEVER surrender.” He also sought to buy back “automatic and highly illegal” firearms from a Facebook user, Assistant U.S. Attorney Abigail K. King wrote in a memo seeking Kantwill’s detention.

Kantwill was arrested June 18 and remains in custody at Pinellas County Jail in Tampa on a federal hold.

Kantwill’s lawyer, Samuel E. Landes, last week urged a judge to release the dentist. Kantwill served as an Army captain in Iraq and developed depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and also has struggled with alcoholism, Landes wrote to the court.

“Despite this, he has lived six decades without committing any crimes: he has no criminal history at all,” Landes said.

“The Government proffered no evidence whatsoever – and there is none – that Dr. Kantwill has even the slightest inclination to act on any of these threats,” Landes wrote. “Indeed, against the advice of counsel, Dr. Kantwill spontaneously told the Court during the detention hearing that his statements were ‘empty threats.’ The Government presented no evidence that would suggest Dr. Kantwill is a flight risk, and there is none.”

King, the prosecutor, countered that Kantwill repeatedly sent threatening messages to people across the country who didn’t maintain the same beliefs as he did. He used explicit language to detail exactly how he planned to injure or kill individuals, she wrote.

A federal magistrate judge ordered Kantwill’s continued detention but asked for additional briefings to be submitted from both sides.

According to prosecutors, the dentist broke the terms of an agreement to voluntarily withdraw from practicing medicine after he relapsed on alcohol while battling addiction in 2007 and was reprimanded and fined by the Florida Board of Dentistry. His dental license, though, remains valid through 2026, according to state records.

-- Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, mbernstein@oregonian.com, follow her on X @maxoregonian, or on LinkedIn.

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