Left: President Donald Trump enters at a campaign event, June 18, 2024, in Racine, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File). Right: Richard Kantwill booking photo Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
A Florida dentist and ardent supporter of “The Great Donald Trump” is headed to prison for sending more than 100 threatening, racist and bigoted messages to over 40 people because he disagreed with their politics.
Richard Kantwill, 61, of Tampa, was sentenced to two years in prison with credit for the roughly nine months he’s already served. Kantwill pleaded guilty in November 2024 to four counts of interstate transmission of a threat. He was indicted in June.
Prosecutors for the U.S. Middle District of Florida in a sentencing memorandum wrote the threats contained “obscene and derogatory references regarding race, religious affiliation, gender, and sexual orientation.”
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“The Defendant’s repeated choice to threaten violence, to include threats of murder and rape, against persons in the public eye who he disagreed with, demonstrates a lack of self-control and respect not just for the individuals with views different from his but also for the rule of law in general, and justifies a guideline sentence of 33 months,” the government wrote.
Kantwill’s attorneys said in their sentencing memo that he is “extremely remorseful” and called sending threats the “biggest mistake of his life.” He blamed his behavior on post-traumatic stress disorder from what he observed as a medic during the first Gulf War. The PTSD led him to drink alcohol heavily and use marijuana, his attorneys said.
As Law&Crime previously reported, federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida revealed some of the details underlying the man’s threats in a memorandum seeking to detain him due to his “dangerousness” but they otherwise redacted records and opted to keep the names of his alleged victims private.
The FBI said it uncovered hundreds of threatening messages sent by Kantwill. Court records show the FBI first interviewed him in October 2019 after receiving a complaint from one of his victims. The FBI warned Kantwill his messages were being perceived as a threat but, undeterred, he allegedly “spent the next ten months sending threats to over 40 victims via social media and email.”
Investigators later said they determined that the messages had started prior to their interview with Kantwill that October. Most messages went through Facebook, Instagram or his private email account.
In one alleged threat, which appears to have been sent to a writer or journalist, Kantwill is accused of writing:
You, sir, are a degenerate piece of s—. I read your article about The Great Donald Trump. It is so blatantly prejudiced that you don’t even attempt to be impartial, you [redacted]. You are gay … I can tell. F— you. I love what Trump does and where he stays. You ignorant [redacted] never cared about the great ghetto [redacted] Obama and how he got rich but your going to get a hard-on about where Trump stays. So blatantly ignorant and liberally immoral. God Bless the Great President Trump and his family. F— you and yours. Hire extra security … you’re gonna need it, I plan on f—ing you up … just for the fun of it.
The Justice Department did not confirm whether the target of the message was a writer or a journalist.
To a different victim, who prosecutors say is a reverend, Kantwill allegedly vowed “torture first, then death” and added “we are going to kill you” as he called the target an “immoral degenerate.”
Prosecutors noted in their memorandum supporting the man’s detention that this victim spent close to $4,500 in home surveillance equipment out of “genuine fear.”
A series of texts and emails that Richard Kantwill allegedly sent to multiple victims. Exhibits provided by U.S. Justice Department.
Many of the messages contained a racial component. To a victim in July 2020, when protests around the police killing of George Floyd were fresh, he texted: “Hey n—– … ever get tired of losing??? Cannot wait to shoot your ghetto a — in the street … you will die like every other n—– piece of s—.”
The dentist also allegedly boasted about his weapons, saying on Facebook that he had a collection of guns and that he would “NEVER surrender.”
Investigators said Kantwill has 15 self-reported firearms.
In one exchange with someone on Facebook whom he hoped “to buy back ‘automatic and highly illegal’ firearms from,” prosecutors say Kantwill “referenced enjoying the violence of his military service, specifically stating that he ‘loved creating widows and orphans.’”
The FBI attempted to interview him formally in July 2021 and during that time, prosecutors allege he was defiant and refused. Instead, they say he told the agents he had done nothing illegal and then “blamed the government, minorities, and other entities for being the reason he had been speaking out.”
Court records show a text he allegedly sent the FBI after their meeting.
“So you don’t forget,” he wrote, and then inserted an emoji of a middle finger and said he called his attorney and that his “high profile patients” would be there for their next meeting.
“So … F— YOU!!!” he added. “God bless America!!! F— Biden!!!!!”
He threatened a politician shortly after that, prosecutors claim.
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Court records do not name the lawmaker or state whether they are a federal, state or local official. His message to the lawmaker was graphic, warning the politician that they would face sexual violence “that serve our cause.”
It also contained a number of racial slurs.
Prosecutors say Kantwill self-reported to pretrial services that he had received an “Other Than Honorable” discharge from the Army. Florida Department of Health disciplinary records uncovered by prosecutors also allegedly reveal that he broke the terms of an agreement he had to voluntarily stop practicing medicine after he “relapsed on alcohol while in the midst of an alcohol addiction.”
U.S. attorneys said Kantwill performed dentistry while he was relapsed and was reprimanded and fined. He tested positive for marijuana when screened by pretrial services as well, they said.
Brandi Buchman contributed to this report
