Mission man accused of threatening sheriff, courthouse
A St. Ignatius man is accused of making threats to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Lake County Courthouse. Joshua Aaron Kenney-Greenwood, 45, entered a plea of not guilty in District Court in Polson on May 21 to felony intimidation.
According to court records, on April 9 a man reported to law enforcement that he was attempting to evict Kenney-Greenwood off of his rental property. He accused Kenney-Greenwood of trying to sell the landlord's property on Facebook Yard Sale, including a horse shelter and other agriculture equipment, and indicated that his tenant liked to avoid law enforcement.
On April 14, a deputy with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded to the residence referenced by the landlord and observed a man and woman on a deck by a fire. When the deputy exited his patrol unit, the couple went inside the residence and did not come back out.
The following day, the deputy was notified by Lake County Dispatch that Kenney-Greenwood’s wife had called and stated that the deputy was not welcome on their property and they would only communicate via email.
On April 18, Lake County law enforcement learned that Kenney-Greenwood posted threatening messages on “X,” formally known as “Twitter.” In the post, he indicated he was going to kill Governor Gianforte, alleging that Gianforte poisoned his family, and veiling his threats as a religious prophesy protected as religious speech under the U.S. Constitution.
On April 25, deputies learned of another threat posted to “X” threatening the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of the FBI, the Federal Courthouse in Missoula and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. The post threatened that aggression on the part of those agencies would result in the courthouse burning down and law enforcement being “ambushed and murdered. EASILY TOO, I might add.”
Records show Kenney-Greenwood with a prior conviction for assault with a deadly weapon in North Carolina.
Judge Molly Owen set the case for trial on Nov. 3. Kenney-Greenwood remains in the Lake County Jail with bail set at $250,000.