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Defendant(s)

CRIMINAL COMPLAINT
I, the complainant in this case, state that the following is true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
On or about the date(s) of
District of

Eastern

February 19, 2017
North Carolina

in the

, the defendant(s) violated:

Offense Description

Code Section
18 U.S.C. 875(c)

Wake

in the county of

Transmitting a threat in interstate commerce to injure the person of another

This criminal complaint is based on these facts:
See attached Affidavit of Andrew Maurer

if Continued on the attached sheet.

Andrew Maurer, ask Force Officer, FBI
Printed name and title

Pursuant to Rule 4.1 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the applicant appeared before me via
reliable electronic means and was placed under oath.

tat:tte:::

February 20. 20,17

Case 5:17-mj-01133-RN Document 1 Filed 02/20/17 Page 1 of 6

 AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AND ARREST WARRANT

I, Andrew Maurer, being duly sworn, depose and say:
1.

I have been a Task Force Officer of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) since August of 2014. During that time, I
have conducted investigations in counter-terrorism cases in
I have received training in
the United States and overseas.
criminal enterprise, conducting criminal and intelligence
and
seizures,
and
searches
conducting
investigations,
effecting criminal arrests. Furthermore, I h~ve been a police
officer with the Cary Police Department since 2011 and formerly
a Florida state trooper and Winter Park, Florida police officer
"
since 1998; I have a total of 19 years of law enforcement
experience.

2.

This affidavit is made in support of a criminal complaint and
arrest warrant against Garrett Grimsley charging him with
transmitting a threat in interstate commerce to injure the
person of another, in violation of Title 18, United States
Code, Section 875(c).

3.

The information contained in this affidavit is based on my
personal knowledge of the facts and.evidence, my training and
experience, and information obtained from other law enforcement
agents and witnesses. Since this affidavit is being submitted
for the purpose of establishing probable cause for the issuance
of an arrest warrant, I have not included each and every fact
known to me concerning this investigation, and have set forth
only those facts I believe are necessary for said purpose.
PROBABLE CAUSE

4.

On or around February 19, 2017, Garrett Grimsley engaged in
public and private communicati'ons with a cooperating witness
(CW) on the messaging application Whisper. Whisper is a mobile
electronic device messaging application service· provided to
users free of charge. Users access Whisper on a cellular phone
Whisper allows users to
device, either Android or iPhones.
send or post messages or "whispers" anonymously, either
publicly or privately. Whisper also has a Global Positioning
1

Case 5:17-mj-01133-RN Document 1 Filed 02/20/17 Page 2 of 6

 System (GPS) function that allows users to see public posts
that are close to their own geographical area in order to
promote discussion and contact among people that are located
in close proximity to each other.
5.

The CW encountered Grimsley under the local tab on Whisper, .
which indicated that the two were 12 miles away from each
other. The CW was located in Cary, NC at that time.

6.

Grimsley, under the username "Spark_Pure", had made a public
post on February 19, 2017, stating "Salam, some of you are
alright, don't go to Cary tomorrow." In the background was a
picture of a bearded middle-aged male wearing camouflage pants
The
and holding a red flag with a black star in the middle.
CW responded, "Why - what's happening in Cary tomorrow?"

7.

The two then engaged in a private chat during which Grimsley
For too long the the kuffar
stated: "Asalam alaikum brother.
This cannot
have spit in our faces and trampled our rights.
Say your dua, sleep,
I cannot speak of anything.
continue.
It will only be the beginning,
and watch the news tomorrow.
insha'Allah." (NOTE: "dua" is Arabic for prayers, "insha'Allah"
is Arabic for God willing, and "kuffar" is a derogatory Arabic
Grimsley added that he
term extremists use for non-Muslims).
The CW subsequently
was deleting his Whisper account.
attempted to engage further with Grimsley by discussing
excerpts of the Qu'ran, however Grimsley did not respond.

8.

On February 19, 2017, Whisper provided Geo-Locate information
for the postings made that day under the "Spark_Pure" account
showing a Latitude/Longitude at the Weston Lakeside Apartments
Whisper advised that these postings transferred
in Cary, NC.
through their servers located in California.

9.

The data provided by Whisper also showed a recent accessed
Internet Protocal (IP) address used by account "Spark_Pure" to
access Whisper was 98.122.138.36:49818 (accessed on 02/18/2017
Whisper also indicated that the
at around 23:40hrs).
"Spark_Pure" user appeared to have accessed the account by
means of an Apple iPhone using T-Mobile service.

2

Case 5:17-mj-01133-RN Document 1 Filed 02/20/17 Page 3 of 6

 10. On February 19, 2017, Time Warner Cable provided the subscriber
address
IP
the
of
user
the
for
information
account
98.122.138.36:49818 which was used on 02/19/2017. Time Warner
Cable identified the subscriber as Garrett Grimsley located at
3116 Lakeside View Ct. Cary, NC with a phone number of (910)
352-5109. A search of Accurint shows Garrett Grimsley with a
current address of 3116 Lakeside View Court, Cary, NC and a
phone number of (910) 352-5109.
11. Your affiant knows that the apartment at 3116 Lakeside View
Court, Cary, NC was located inside the Weston Lakeside
Apartments complex.
12. Open sources checks and law enforcement databases showed
Garrett Grimsley lived at 3116 Lakeside View Court, Cary NC
and utilized (910) 352-5109 as his phone number. Records also
showed that (910) 352-5109 was assigned to service provider TMobile.
13. On February 19, 2017, law enforcement officers from the FBI
and Cary Police Department executed a North Carolina state
Search Warrant at the address 3116 Lakeside Vlew Court, Cary,
Garrett Grimsley was present in the apartment alone and
NC.
refused to answer questions by the agents.
14. Upon entry into the apartment, a computer screen was visible
with several Facebook private messages between Facebook users
"Garrett Grimsley" (UID: 1000102 98227 63 6) and Facebook user
The "Spark_Pure" Whisper
"Tim Tam" (UID: 100011861693579).
messages noted above had been pasted into the Facebook
conversation.
15. The Facebook private messages between "Grimsley" and "Tim Tam"
revealed a lengthy conversation indicating that they were both
aware of the Whisper posts and that they were both expecting
"Grimsley" to get "raided" by law enforcement. At one point,
"Tim Tam" stated "we're going to be on CNN tomorrow god damnit"
and later "I swear to god you're going to get a swat team".
In an apparent reference to "Grimsley" spotting a law
enforcement surveillance vehicle, "Grimsley" told "Tim Tam",
"holy fuck I'm actually going to get raided."
3

Case 5:17-mj-01133-RN Document 1 Filed 02/20/17 Page 4 of 6

 16. Continuing in their conversation, "Tim Tam" and "Grimsley" then
discussed accessing the internet anonymously and deleting the
"Grimsley" sent "Tim Tan" a
Whisper account Grimsley used.
screen capture of Grimsley in the process of encrypting
The status of the
Grimsley' s hard drive on his computer.
encryption was 57% complete with eight hours left. "Grimsley"
also said "hurry up, van is outside" to which "Tim Tam" replied
"you're fucked kiddo".
17. When FBI agents arrived inside Grimsley's apartment, Grimsley's
computer screen showed an encryption status of 63% complete.
18. Other Facebook comments made by "Grimsley" to "Tim Tam"
included "Grimsley" stating "I yell about jihad and shooting
all the people all the time, too much CSGO [likely reference
to Counter Strike Global Offensive video game] and nasheeds
[Islamic videos with speeches and music in the background] . "
"Grimsley" also posted a nasheed video called "Soldiers of
"Grimsley" also stated, "the FBI will understand I
Allah."
was only reading Dabiq for the pictures, right?" (NOTE - Dabiq
is an online extremist magazine published by the terrorist
organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)).
19. Also recovered from inside Grimsley's apartment was an AK-47
four 30-round
collapsible stock,
assault rifle with a
magazines, and approximately 340 rounds of 7. 62 millimeter
ammunition.

4

Case 5:17-mj-01133-RN Document 1 Filed 02/20/17 Page 5 of 6

 20. Based on the above, I respectfully
probable cause to believe that Garrett
threat in interstate commerce to injure
in violation of Title 18, United States

/

submit that there is
Grimsley transmitted a
the person of another,
Code, Section 875(c).

ff icer
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Pursuant to Rule 4.1 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the affiant appeared before me via
reliable electronic means, was placed under oath, and attested to the contents of this written affidavit.
'
Dated: February 20, 2017

Robert T. Numbers, II
United States Magistrate Judge

5

Case 5:17-mj-01133-RN Document 1 Filed 02/20/17 Page 6 of 6
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