Police arrested a man on misdemeanor charges for threatening a Michigan church over a an identity counseling workshop they offered to sexually confused girls.
Brian Carl Begin II faces a six-month misdemeanor charge for misuse of telecommunications services after police arrested him for allegedly leaving voicemails with Metro City Church, proclaiming “God is dead” and threatened to have Antifa show up to the building “armed and ready,” according to The News Herald.
Begin threatened the church over their Unashamed Identity Workshop for girls aged 12 to 16, which Begin and others alleged is actually gay conversion therapy. (Related: The LGBT Community Threatened A Church For Offering Counseling, Now They Say It Exorcised A Transgender Boy)
“The workshop has gained so much negative attention on social media and news outlets that the church has canceled the workshop, fearing that protest may turn violent,” police wrote in their report after meeting with church elders in response to violent threats they received, according to The News Herald. “The church is receiving approximately 40 voicemail messages a minute from critics of the Unashamed Identity Workshop.”
Police said that after listening to multiple voicemails the church had received, two of them stood out as more concerning than the rest. Those two voicemails came from a number registered to Begin. The first voicemail, according to TNH, was just an inquiry about how to register a girl for the “conversion therapy” workshop. The second, however, was filled with threats screamed so loudly that they were almost impossible to decipher.
“The first portion of the message is inaudible because the male is yelling so loud,” police wrote in their report, according to TNH. “In the middle of the voicemail the male states if the church goes through with the gay conversion therapy class in the state of Michigan, I promise every member of the Antifa will show up ‘armed and ready. This is not a joke.'”
Riverview Police Chief Clifford Rosebohm told The News Herald that they located and arrested Begin soon afterward, after filing a warrant request with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office the same day. Authorities could only hold Begin for 48 hours, however, as the warrant request was not received in time to be reviewed and show that the investigation was continuous. Police released Begin, pending charges.
Begin was arraigned on Feb. 15 and released on a $10,000 recognizance bond. He will reappear in court on March 1.
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