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A Texas man has been sentenced to prison after threatening to kill a Walmart employee who was playing an online video game with him, federal officials said. In a plea deal signed earlier this year, Rogerio Salas Jr., 26, called a Walmart store in McCook, Nebraska on Jan. He admitted to making threats. He indicated he was in the parking lot with a gun and explosives.
A Weslaco, Texas man made threatening calls that day and he responded to a plea bargain on January 9. Authorities said all Walmart employees and customers were threatened and evacuated. The employee who was assaulted recognized the caller’s voice when they were playing a video game together.
14 press release from the Nebraska District U.S. Attorney, officials learned that Salas Jr. began threatening and harassing store clerks after he refused to continue playing video games with them. Walmart employees didn’t want to hang out with Salas Jr., officials said.
A lawyer for Salas Jr. did not immediately respond to a request for comment by McClatchy News on Oct. 17. He “told [the workers] he was going to burn them in hell,” the plea bargain agreement reads. Workers said Salas Jr.’s anger toward him began after learning of his sexual orientation.
Salas Jr. pleaded guilty to sending threats in interstate commerce. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison followed by three years of imprisonment. “Judge (John M.) Gerrard noted the disturbing frequency of the threats recently put before him, the fear the defendant caused in everyone in the Wal-Mart store that day, and the needlessness of it all. I retorted the ruling on the grounds that it was made for a video game dispute.”
Later, Sarath Jr. began reaching out to him on social media and learned that he used to work at Walmart in Southwest Nebraska.
In one of his calls to an employee’s home phone, a Texas man told him, “You’re dead,” per a plea bargain. According to phone records obtained by police, Salas Jr. dialed “*67” to call Walmart anonymously.