SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – On November 29, 2023, a grand jury returned an indictment against Victoria Gabriela Rodríguez-Morales for making thirteen interstate threats between May and October 2023 in violation of 18 U.S.C. 875(c), announced W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office has no tolerance for illegal threats, especially threats that target people who are the victims of the horrific mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas,” said U.S. Attorney Muldrow. “We hope that this arrest brings a sense of peace to those who were targeted by the defendant.”
“Threatening with violence, under any context, is unacceptable behavior. Making threats of violence to schools and other public institutions, is a federal crime,” said Joseph González, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Juan Field Office. “School shootings are one of the most heinous of violent acts, and those impacted by this tragedy, such as the family, friends and co-workers of the victims of the Uvalde school shooting, deserve to grieve and process their experiences in peace. The subject in this case was hundreds of miles away from the place she intended to torment through threats of violence. Yet she was still identified, located and arrested. May this serve as public notice that this behavior will not be tolerated, in Puerto Rico or anywhere else in the nation.”
According to the indictment, the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint and other public documents, Rodríguez-Morales used Gmail, Instagram, Facebook and Kick.com to threaten schools, hospitals and law enforcement in Uvalde, Texas. Some of the threats referenced Salvador Ramos, who murdered in May 2022 several students and teachers from the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Rodríguez-Morales described Ramos’ victims as “all the little losers souls … I pray for them to be burning in hell.” Rodríguez-Morales’ interstate threats included the following:
“They will shoot uvalde high school and morales jr high whenever I tell ’em So yeah the persecution is gonna start today”
“I will haunt everyone from class 2022 to 2023 Each and every single one of y’all will die”
“Each and every single one of y’all will die in the name of Salvador”
“Your childrens hospital may blow in pieces If yall dont do as i say”
“there will be bombs at the uvalde memorial hospital”
“We will shoot Uvalde Texas high school and Texas A&M college”
“If Mata Rubio wins the elections I will kill her”
Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose daughter was killed in the Uvalde shooting, ran to become mayor of Uvalde.
At least one of Rodríguez-Morales’s prior threats resulted in the temporary closing of a school in Texas.
Each the thirteen counts of conviction carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. If the defendant is found guilty, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeanette M. Collazo-Ortiz of the Violent Crimes Division is prosecuting the case. The FBI’s San Juan Cyber and Violent Crimes Divisions are in charge of the investigation with collaboration from the United States Secret Service.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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