SALT LAKE CITY - A Brigham City man has been charged after a threatening phone call made to political candidate Sean Reyes' house.
Jared Newman was upset about getting a phone message from Reyes, a GOP candidate for Attorney General, prior to the primary election. The phone call reportedly came during dinner.
"You know, one of those automatic solicitation phone calls," said Sgt. Mark Askerlund, Cottonwood Heights Police Dept.
Newman called Reyes' Cottonwood Heights home to express his anger, but his 14-year-old son picked up the phone and was on the receiving end of Newman's tirade that was allegedly profane and racist.
"Our 14-year-old son had fielded a call from a gentleman who was irate and made threats to me and our family," said Reyes.
Askerlund says Newman allegedly made profane threats to do harm. A police report says that Newman yelled, "I'm going to find you, you f***ing Mexicans and knock your teeth out." Newman then allegedly followed that with, "White power!" and hung up.
Reyes' wife called police who later contacted Newman in Box Elder County. He admitted to making the phone call and that he might have gotten out of hand. He also stated that he knew it was wrong because his wife yelled at him.
But when a police officer asked for Newman's home address, he refused, saying "he wasn't sure the man was a real police officer, that he could be part of the Juarez Cartel."
Newman was charged with a misdemeanor citation for making threats of violence.
Reyes says it was a wake-up call for him and his family.
"Unfortunately that there's still a few people out there who harbor those types of bigoted views," Reyes said.
Reyes said that he isn't even of Mexican descent; he's a mix of Japanese, Filipino, Polynesian and Spanish ancestry.
Attempts to contact Newman were unsuccessful.
