San Antonio man tied to ‘incel’ ideology gets 5 years in prison for online threat

A San Antonio man with reported links to the extremist “incel” movement was sentenced to five years in federal prison Thursday for making an online threat against people attending a right-wing political convention.

Alejandro Richard Velasquez Gomez, 20, warned on social media that he planned to unleash a “day of retribution” against the Student Action Summit held in July 2022 in Tampa, Florida, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The event was sponsored by Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that works to organize conservative students on high school and college campuses.

Velasquez had a ticket to the event and had booked a flight from Austin to Tampa, according to federal officials.

In addition to targeting the SAS conference, Velasquez stalked and harassed a young woman for months prior to the event and even continued to contact her while he was in pre-trial detention, according to authorities. What’s more, he tried to obstruct the FBI’s investigation by asking witnesses to hide evidence and having other people delete content from his online accounts, they also said.

“This man used social media to broadcast the message that he intended to travel across the country and carry out a violent act at an event catering to young political activists,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza said in a written statement. “Fortunately, his post was reported to officials who intervened, and this case can serve as a reminder to everyone that, at all levels of law enforcement, we take threats of violence very seriously. Those who violate these laws risk prosecution and imprisonment.”

Velasquez’s arrest was first covered by the Express-News, which reported that he’d targeted the SAS because the organizers hadn’t invited white supremacist Nick Fuentes to its 2021 gathering. Fuentes, later denied any affiliation with Velasquez, according to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, a publication affiliated with the San Antonio Current.

In court documents, the FBI linked Velasquez to the extremist “incel” movement, whose largely male members argue that women have unfairly spurned them and left them “involuntarily celibate.”

The Secret Service in 2022 identified the ideology as a growing terrorism threat due to members’ violent attitudes toward women. Since 2014, attacks inspired by the movement have left dozens dead across the U.S. and Canada, according to the Secret Service.

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This article appears in May 1-14, 2024.