A Florida dentist and staunch supporter of “The Great Donald Trump” is facing prison time for sending over 100 threatening, racist, and bigoted messages to over 40 people simply because he disagreed with their politics.
Richard Kantwill, 61, of Tampa, was sentenced to two years in prison with credit for the approximately nine months he has already served. In November 2024, Kantwill pleaded guilty to four counts of interstate threats. He was indicted in June.
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors for the United States Middle District of Florida stated that the threats included “obscene and derogatory references regarding race, religious affiliation, gender, and sexual orientation.”
“The Defendant’s repeated choice to threaten violence, to include threats of murder and rape, against persons in the public eye who he disagreed with, demonstrates a lack of self-control and respect not just for the individuals with views different from his but also for the rule of law in general, and justifies a guideline sentence of 33 months,” the government stated in its submission.
Kantwill’s attorneys stated in the sentencing memo that he is “extremely remorseful” and that sending threats was the “biggest mistake of his life.”
He blamed his behavior on post-traumatic stress disorder, which he witnessed as a medic during the first Gulf War. According to his attorneys, PTSD caused him to binge drink and use marijuana.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida revealed some of the details underlying the man’s threats in a memorandum seeking to detain him due to his “dangerousness,” but otherwise redacted records and chose to keep the names of his alleged victims private.
The FBI stated that it discovered hundreds of threatening messages sent by Kantwill. According to court records, the FBI first interviewed him in October 2019, following a complaint from one of his victims.
Despite the FBI’s warning that his messages were perceived as threatening, Kantwill allegedly “spent the next ten months sending threats to over 40 victims via social media and email.”
Investigators later stated that the messages began before their October interview with Kantwill. Most messages were sent via Facebook, Instagram, or his personal email account.
In one alleged threat, which appears to have been sent to a writer or journalist, Kantwill is accused of writing:
You, sir, are a degenerate piece of s—. I read your article about The Great Donald Trump. It is so blatantly prejudiced that you don’t even attempt to be impartial, you [redacted]. You are gay … I can tell. F— you. I love what Trump does and where he stays. You ignorant [redacted] never cared about the great ghetto [redacted] Obama and how he got rich but your going to get a hard-on about where Trump stays. So blatantly ignorant and liberally immoral. God Bless the Great President Trump and his family. F— you and yours. Hire extra security … you’re gonna need it, I plan on f—ing you up … just for the fun of it.
The Justice Department declined to confirm whether the message’s intended recipient was a writer or a journalist.
Kantwill allegedly vowed “torture first, then death” to another victim, a reverend, and added “we are going to kill you” while calling the target a “immoral degenerate.”
Prosecutors wrote in their memorandum supporting the man’s detention that the victim spent nearly $4,500 on home surveillance equipment out of “genuine fear.”
Many of the messages included a racial component. During the July 2020 protests over George Floyd’s police killing, a victim texted: “Hey n—- … ever get tired of losing???” Can’t wait to shoot your ghetto a— in the street. “You will die like any other n—- piece of s—.”
The dentist also allegedly boasted about his weapons, claiming on Facebook that he had a collection of guns and would “NEVER surrender.”
According to investigators, Kantwill has 15 self-reported firearms.
In one Facebook exchange with someone he hoped “to buy back ‘automatic and highly illegal’ firearms from,” prosecutors say Kantwill “referenced enjoying the violence of his military service, specifically stating that he ‘loved creating widows and orphans.'”
The FBI attempted to interview him formally in July 2021, but prosecutors claim he was defiant and refused. Instead, they claim he told the agents that he had done nothing wrong and then “blamed the government, minorities, and other entities for being the reason he had been speaking out.”
Court records show a text he allegedly sent to the FBI following their meeting.
“So you don’t forget,” he wrote, adding an emoji of a middle finger and stating that he had called his attorney and that his “high-profile patients” would be present at their next meeting.
“So … F— YOU!!!” He added. “God bless America!!! F— Biden!!!!!”
Prosecutors claim he threatened a politician shortly afterward.
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Court records do not identify the lawmaker or specify whether they are a federal, state, or local official. His message to the legislator was graphic, warning him that he would face sexual violence “that serves our cause.”
It also contained several racial slurs.
Prosecutors claim Kantwill self-reported to pretrial services that he received a “other than honorable” discharge from the Army.
According to Florida Department of Health disciplinary records obtained by prosecutors, he violated the terms of an agreement requiring him to voluntarily cease practicing medicine after he “relapsed on alcohol while in the midst of an alcohol addiction.”
According to US attorneys, Kantwill performed dentistry while relapsed and was reprimanded and fined. He also tested positive for marijuana when screened by pretrial services, according to officials.
