Man pleads not guilty to threats against school

A Kalispell man pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he threatened violence against Jews and attacks at a local school.

David Joseph Lenio, 28, has been charged with intimidation and criminal defamation, both felonies. Unlike his initial court appearance, in which he disrupted the court with claims of conspiracies, Thursday’s proceeding was quick and quiet.

Lenio asked for a quick clarification after District Judge Heidi J. Ulbricht read his rights. Then his attorney, Brent Getty, entered a plea of not guilty.

Police arrested Lenio on Feb. 16 after threatening online messages passed through law enforcement from coast to coast. It started when Lenio had a run-in with an anti-gun-violence activist over the Internet.

The activist was Jonathan Hutson, the chief communications officer for the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The organization is based in Washington, D.C. After he exchanged messages with Lenio online, Hutson looked into Lenio’s archives and found years of inflammatory comments.

“His current and former social media accounts contain a trove of information about his movements and motives,” Hutson said.

On a hunch, he contacted law enforcement in Oregon, which tracked Lenio to the Flathead Valley. Law officers arrested Lenio as he was leaving Whitefish Mountain Resort. In their investigation, police found two rifles at his home and a handgun in his car. They also learned that Lenio had moved a rifle from a storage unit to his residence the day before.

Hutson has dug into Lenio’s archives to learn about the man who would make such heinous threats. He found that Lenio graduated from high school in Michigan and lived in Colorado before moving to Kalispell in 2014.

All along, he posted videos and messages online about various conspiracy theories, perceived institutional problems and outright threats. On Dec. 30, Lenio Tweeted that he wanted to go on a killing spree at a Kalispell elementary school, referring to the tragic 2012 mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

“He was indicating that he wanted to use Sandy Hook as a template for his own actions,” Hutson said. “And then after Tweeting his threats, he went to his storage locker to retrieve his rifle.”

That escalated the concern for local law enforcement, and they arrested Lenio on President’s Day, when most schools were not in session.

Hutson said that he acted more as a concerned father than as a spokesman for the Brady Campaign. As the case moves forward in court, he said that he would be paying close attention.

It was Hutson’s concern that alerted police to a serious threat.

“This is a case of ‘If you see something, say something,’” he said. “We can all play a role in making this the safer America we all want and deserve.”

Lenio’s next court appearance will be an omnibus hearing on May 6. A trial is tentatively scheduled for July 6.