Man threatens Walmart employee after he stopped playing video games with him, feds say

A Texas man is going to prison after threatening to kill a Walmart employee he used to play online video games with, according to federal authorities.

In his plea agreement signed earlier this year, 26-year-old Rogelio Salas, Jr. admitted he called a Walmart store in McCook, Nebraska, on Jan. 8 and “made a specific threat to kill (a specific employee).” He implied he was in the parking lot with a rifle and explosives.

The Weslaco, Texas, man made more threatening calls that day and on Jan. 9, according to the plea agreement. Authorities said all Walmart employees and customers were evacuated following the threats.

The targeted employee recognized the caller’s voice as they had played video games with each other, prosecutors said.

Authorities learned Salas, Jr. began to threaten and harass the employee after he refused to continue playing video games with him, according to an Oct. 14 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska.

The Walmart worker didn’t want to play with Salas, Jr. because he had began using offensive “homosexual slurs” and other “derogatory names for gay men,” authorities said.

The defense attorney representing Salas, Jr. did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Oct. 17.

“The defendant told (the worker) that he will burn in hell for being a homosexual,” according to the plea agreement. The worker said Salas, Jr.’s anger toward him began after learning he was homosexual.

Salas Jr. then started contacting him on social media and learned he worked at the Walmart in southwest Nebraska, authorities said.

In one of the calls to the employees’ personal phone, the Texas man told him “you are a dead man,” according to the plea agreement. Phone records obtained by police show Salas Jr. dialed “*67” in attempt to call Walmart anonymously.

Salas Jr. pleaded guilty to transmitting threats in interstate commerce. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

“Judge (John M.) Gerrard noted the disturbing frequency of threat cases coming before him recently and issued the sentence in part because of the fear that the defendant caused in all of the individuals at the Wal-Mart store that day and because it was all unnecessarily done over a video game dispute,” according to the news release.

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