A North Carolina man accused of threatening Federal Emergency Management Agency workers was arrested on public terror charges, authorities announced Monday, amid a wave of rampant misinformation about the agency that has hindered Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in the hard-hit state.
William Jacob Parsons – who authorities say was armed with an AR-style rifle and two handguns – made a “vague threat” that he was going to “go mess up some FEMA personnel," said Rutherford County Sheriff's Office Capt. Jamie Keever. Parsons was charged with going armed to the terror of the public, an arrest warrant says. He has been released on bail.
The disruptions to aid service come as FEMA works to combat swirling conspiracies and falsehoods about its resources and responses to recent deadly hurricanes, including Helene, which devastated the mountain communities of western North Carolina and much of the Southeast.
FEMA has debunked false claims that the federal government is seizing land from storm survivors, only giving $750 to those who lost their homes and has restricted access to airspace amid search and rescue operations. The falsehoods have caused harm to both volunteers on the ground and impacted families, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in a news conference earlier this month.
"It’s creating fear in some of the individuals, and so I worry that they won't apply for assistance, which means I can't get them the necessary items they need to support them,” Criswell said.
Fact check roundup:Alarming misinformation about FEMA circulates online amid hurricane recovery efforts
Parsons, 44, was arrested Saturday after Rutherfurd County Communications Center received a call reporting that an armed man made a comment threatening harm to FEMA workers.
On the same day, the U.S. Forest Service received an email from FEMA, which said a National Guard unit working for the agency “came across some militia members who said they were out hunting FEMA,” according to Jason Nedlo, a spokesperson for the Forest Service’s Southern Area Blue Incident Management Team. The email was first reported by The Washington Post.
“FEMA has advised all federal responders (in) Rutherford County, NC, to stand down and evacuate the county immediately," an official with the U.S. Forest Service wrote to other federal agencies, according to The Post. "The message stated that National Guard troops 'had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA.'”
Keever said there's no indication there was a “truckload of militiamen” in Rutherford County, despite initial reports stating otherwise.
"After further investigation, it was determined Parsons acted alone and there were no truck loads of militia going to Lake Lure," the sheriff's office said in a news release.
Parsons was booked into the Rutherford County Detention Center on a $10,000 bond, which he later paid and was released. His first appearance is scheduled for Wednesday at the Rutherford County Courthouse.
The threats have caused FEMA employees to temporarily stop accepting in-person applications for federal assistance in some of North Carolina's mountain communities, according to a statement posted Sunday on social media by the Ashe County Emergency Management Department, which said FEMA employees would not be staffed in the towns of Lansing or Riverview.
"It is our understanding that all FEMA reps in NC were stood down due to threats occurring in some counties (not Ashe)," the post said. Later Sunday, the county's emergency management department said FEMA would begin accepting in-person applications for assistance on Monday.
In a statement, Ashe County Sheriff B. Phil Howell also said FEMA had "paused their process" because of "threats made against them." He urged residents to "stay calm and steady," adding, "help folks and please don't stir the pot."
A senior FEMA official in Washington confirmed that workers have been pulled back from going door to door, as is their usual method of helping in disaster areas and are instead working out of Disaster Recovery Centers “as we work through this challenge.”
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity for security reasons, said FEMA staff were “not evacuated entirely,” but instead are working out of the centers, “which are fixed locations that have security at them.”
The official said FEMA is trying to combat a lot of rumor and disinformation “that is swirling” in disaster relief and recovery areas, “which can be challenging because a lot of it is, ‘I heard this, I heard that,’“ the official told USA TODAY.
The official said FEMA will continue to assess its security posture, working with local law enforcement.
In an emailed statement to USA TODAY, a FEMA spokesperson said, "For the safety of our dedicated staff and the disaster survivors we are helping, FEMA has made some operational adjustments."
(This story was updated to add new information.)