WA man charged with threatening to kill Gov. Ferguson, AG Brown

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A Snohomish man is accused of threatening to kill Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown in emails sent to their offices earlier this month.

Ryan Todd Robinett, 43, faces charges of threats against the Governor. The charges stem from emails obtained by the Washington State Patrol, which appear to, in great detail, describe capturing Ferguson and Brown and executing them.

Details in the emails to Gov. Ferguson

Dig deeper:

According to a Snohomish County superform obtained by FOX 13 Seattle, Robinett sent an email to the Attorney General's Office which read:

"Failure to review the evidence will be used in court , as I will escalate this without a doubt. Amd of[sic] nothing is done I will get making a trip to your office and arresting Bob Ferguson and nick brown[sic] under my right to a citizens arrest and having warned you as well as posted this email online proving my warning. If you resist I will not hesitate to use lethal Force and I will shoot to kill Bob Ferguson and Nick Brown for the slightest motion of refusal."

Authorities say Robinett continued to talk about FBI corruption, the Snohomish Police Department and the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, then he linked one of his Facebook pages and wrote, "And the evidence in those videos on that link will provide it to the public and it will justify any use of lethal Force as a result of you and your office is complete ignorance and refusal to uphold the law and refuse to protect and serve me equally as a citizen."

Robinett claimed in his email that "multiple branches of the government" were trying to murder him over intellectual property.

"This is a threat. It is a legal threat," Robinett wrote, per police documents. "[…] I am literally saying that I'm going to give Bob Ferguson and Nick Brown a single request to get on the ground and put their hands behind their back and if they make any motions towards me […] I will shoot to kill them on sight."

What they're saying:

According to the county superform, Robinett has made many similar calls and sent similar emails.

A person working for the Governor's Office told Snohomish County detectives that Robinett called on Dec. 16, 2025 threatening to throw Ferguson to the ground and arrest him. The person recognized Robinett from previous calls, but said his statements did not meet the threshold to pursue charges at the time.

Detectives paired Robinett's email to a Facebook page which was friends with a "Todd Robinett" page, where investigators say they found a video recording of his Dec. 16 call to the Governor's Office.

Detectives were granted a search warrant to ping Robinett's location through his cell phone, then on Jan. 3, 2026, they took him into custody at his home.

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