74-year-old Spokane man jailed on $10K bond for threatening Florida retirement community Trump visited

A 74-year-old Spokane man is accused of calling a large Florida retirement community where President Donald Trump held a rally the day before and threatening to “blow you guys up,” according to court documents.

Robert L. Martindale made his first appearance Monday in Spokane County Superior Court on a charge of felony bomb threats. Court Commissioner Tami Chavez maintained Martindale’s bond at $10,000, calling the alleged threats to the Villages, Florida, “quite serious.”

“Those did seem to be serious in nature, and the court has those concerns with community safety,” Chavez said.

Employees at the Villages Sales and Information Center reported receiving 11 threatening phone calls from a number, later traced to Martindale in Spokane, in a short period Saturday morning, court records show. The man, who police believe was Martindale, used profanity, complained about Trump’s Friday visit to the Villages and made threats, the employees told authorities.

“Me and my friends are getting our semiautomatics and are coming to blow you guys up because of that scumbag Trump,” Martindale allegedly told one of the employees.

“Tell everyone we’ve got guns and ammo,” he allegedly told another employee.

The employees reported the threats to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. The sheriff’s office contacted the U.S. Secret Service since some of the threats referenced the president and blowing things up, according to court documents.

The Secret Service and sheriff’s office said the phone number from which the alleged threats were made belonged to Martindale, who lives in Browne’s Addition, court documents say.

Sumter County deputies called Spokane police about the calls. Officers contacted Martindale about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, or roughly three hours after he made the last call to the Villages, at his residence. There, Martindale admitted to police that he made about 10 calls that day to the Villages.

A Spokane police news release Sunday said Martindale stated something akin to, “It’s not a threat, but a warning.”

Martindale “ranted” to police about Trump pardoning criminals who attack police, according to court documents.

Martindale also made threats against Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s golf resort in Florida, according to the release.

He was booked into the Spokane County Jail where he remained Monday afternoon.

At Monday’s hearing, the prosecution asked Chavez to maintain the $10,000 bond, calling the allegations “extremely concerning.”

Katelin Sadler, a Spokane County public defender, asked the court to release Martindale without bond, citing his zero criminal history. She also said while she understood the allegations are concerning, her client called a state thousands of miles away and did not act on the alleged threats.

Sadler said Martindale has lived in Spokane on and off his entire life, including the past 10 years.

He is set for an arraignment Thursday.