A Los Angeles man used TikTok, Instagram and YouTube for months to threaten to kill President Trump and to stalk and harass one of the president's personal attorneys and his family, federal prosecutors allege in an indictment unsealed this week. Benjamin Azariah Southworth, 40, a former podcast host, was arrested Thursday at his Westlake apartment and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment the same day, according to NBC News. He was ordered held without bond, with his next court date set for next month.

Southworth, who previously hosted a podcast called "Yass, Jesus!" and a Christian reality show called "The Remix," is charged with one count of threatening the president, one count of cyberstalking, and one count of making harassing interstate telephone calls, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. Prosecutors say the conduct ran from January through May of this year, including an April 7 Instagram video in which Southworth allegedly called for Trump's death and depicted himself teleporting into the Oval Office while holding a knife to the president's head. He also allegedly sold merchandise printed with the phrase "Kill Trump," according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Lawyer's family targeted too

The indictment also accuses Southworth of doxxing and harassing Trump's personal attorney, Jay Sekulow — posting Sekulow's Brentwood, Tennessee, home address on TikTok in January with the caption "No peace for traitors" and urging followers to "visit" him — and of leaving abusive voicemails for Sekulow family members. If convicted, Southworth faces up to five years in prison on the presidential-threat count, five years on the cyberstalking count, and two years on the interstate-harassment count.

"We will hold perpetrators of violent threats accountable, and anyone who makes these threats online will not be allowed to hide behind their screens," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

FBI Director Kash Patel separately called the alleged threats "as vile as they are criminal." Southworth's case is one of a string of federal prosecutions this year targeting people accused of threatening the president online, as the Secret Service and FBI have stepped up enforcement tied to social-media posts. No trial date has been set, and it's unclear whether Southworth has retained an attorney to respond publicly to the charges.