A Maricopa man who claimed to have an arsenal of firearms and ammunition at his disposal has been accused of threatening his coworkers at the Intel facility in Chandler.
According to court documents, on July 10, Chandler police arrived at Intel Corp.’s Fab 42 facility after receiving a report that an employee was armed and planning to attack workers at the facility.
Officers discovered the employee, Frank Licastro, 46, was using his company issued cell phone to send threatening messages to the management and coworkers that worked at the facility.
Licastro went on to refer to one of the workers as a "dead man" and threatened to stalk and attack him in the parking lot, according to court documents.
During the investigation, officers found more messages
of Licastro's stating that he was waiting outside the facility, armed, and ready to "light the place up", court documents stated.
According to court documents, Licastro claimed in the messages that he had $40,000 worth of firearms and ammunition stored across the United States and had been preparing for an event like this for an extended period.
Licastro continued sending threatening messages to multiple Intel employees, prompting the facility to go into lockdown.
Investigators found a social media account linked to Licastro on the website Farcaster. During an interview with officers, Licastro recognized the account and did not deny ownership of it.
Post made on the social media account contained verbal threats toward employees of Intel as well as referred to employees as "slaves" and the management team as "masters," court documents stated.
Court documents state officers found that the social media posts expanded upon the threats communicated to employees directly, causing a search warrant to be obtained for Licastro's residence.
A SWAT team arrived at Licastro’s home on July 10 and took him into custody. Court documents state that investigators also located and seized evidence related to the investigation from the residence.
Licastro was transferred from SWAT custody to Chandler police for further questioning. During the interview, he described his threats as a “show of force” intended to draw as much attention as possible to the situation.
Although he denied intending to physically harm anyone, Licastro admitted to sending the messages out of anger. According to court documents, he said he sent them because he wanted an apology from Intel management.
Court documents stated Licastro is currently facing multiple chargers of threatening or intimidating and making a terrorist threat.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Intel worker faces charges after police say he threatened coworkers
