Thu. Nov 14th, 2024

Two years of death threats and harassment on social media led to FBI’s arrest of Germantown man, according to court documents

 Kim Chaney, Gabriel Huff

Germantown Police said the FBI conducted the investigation around 6 a.m. Friday, Oct. 18, in the 2800 block of Leesburg Drive.

GERMANTOWN, Tenn — Federal court documents reveal new information on a Federal Bureau of Investigation raid in Germantown Friday morning, Oct. 18, 2024.

Germantown Police said the FBI conducted the investigation around 6 a.m. in the 2800 block of Leesburg Drive. Officials said the scene was secure and the public was not in danger. An FBI spokesperson later told ABC24 that agents were serving a court authorized search and arrest warrant in the area.

According to the federal court complaint obtained by ABC24, Abed-Al Majid Awwad was arrested on charges of stalking and interstate communication of a threat.

The complaint said the FBI in Phoenix, Arizona, contacted the Memphis FBI office on Oct. 3, 2024, about complaints of harassment from Awwad which began two years ago in October 2022. Two people in Arizona reported several times that Awwad, who lives in Germantown, Tennessee, had harassed and threatened them on social media, including threats of sexually assaulting and killing them, according to the complaint.

The attorney for the two victims gave the FBI 166 screenshots of threatening messages and comments allegedly from Awwad, which had been from accounts deactivated shortly after they were sent.

The federal complaint said Awwad created multiple social media accounts using the victims’ names and information, posting inappropriate pictures and threatening and harassing messages. The harassment led the victims to delete their social media.

The complaint said in January 2024, the family of the victims contacted Awwad asking him to leave the two alone.

According to the FBI, Awwad purchased a gun in July 2024, and the following month one of the victims obtained an order of protection in Arizona. Awwad was ordered not to have any contact with the victims.

The complaint alleges in September 2024, Awwad tried to buy another gun but was denied due to a “state prohibitor or court-ordered firearm restriction.”

Shortly after that, the victims’ family again contacted Awwad asking him to stop the harassment, and he allegedly told them, “There was no way to prove it was him.”

Later that month, the victims’ attorney contacted Germantown Police and was told by his family he had been kicked out of the home for “causing so much trouble.”

The federal complaint said the victims then received hundreds more messages in October 2024 from an unknown number with more harassment and death threats.

Investigators tracked Awwad’s cell phone, which led to Friday’s raid and Awwad’s arrest.

Court records showed Awwad was appointed a federal public defender and ordered to be held. He was scheduled for a detention hearing Oct. 24 in Memphis.

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