Facebook posts land Marine vet in mental ward? (VIDEO)
US police reportedly detained a Marine Corps veteran in a mental hospital over Facebook posts, triggering outrage in the online community. Brandon J. Raub claimed the FBI was concerned about his "calling for the arrest of government officials."
Raub, 26, is now being held in the John Randolph Behavioral Health psychiatric ward. In an online interview with local media, Raub’s mother reported that her son’s hearing is due to take place later on Monday. Raub claimed in a phone interview that he was brought to the ward against his will.FBI and Secret Service officials said that Raub wasn’t arrested on specific charges, and declined to comment further, local newspaper the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Police officials allege they were only tasked with transporting Raub, and had no hand in his being interred in a mental health institution.Raub was confronted by FBI agents at his home on Thursday and taken away in handcuffs. He was then reportedly questioned over several incendiary Facebook posts he made. "They were concerned about me calling for the arrest of government officials," Raub said.The Richmond FBI office said they had received a complaint about Raub’s “threatening posts." The video of the detention emerged on YouTube and immediately went viral, earning 67,000 views in the handful of hours after the footage was posted. “I talked to a Secret Service gentleman for 20, 30 minutes. I was very cooperative and answered everything honestly. I really love America, and I think that idea that you can be detained and sent somewhere without due process and a lawyer … is crazy,” Raub told local media in a phone interview.Raub posted Facebook messages that suggested that the US government was behind the 9/11 attacks, and signed a petition to re-open the investigation into the terrorist act.“If you are unaware of the great amount of evil perpetrated by the American Government I suggest you take … your head out of the sand. The day of reckoning is almost at hand,” he wrote on August 5. He authored a later post saying,“The Revolution is here. And I will lead it.” A Facebook group supporting Raub has been created, and has over 3,000 members. Raub served in the US Marine Corps from 2005 to 2011, and was a combat engineer Sergeant in Iraq and Afghanistan.