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Oklahoma City, OK (KFOR) — A Midwest City man arrested during a traffic stop in a south side shopping plaza Friday night is accused of making numerous death threats to law enforcement and the President of the United States in phone calls with his jailed wife, according to court records.
Harold Vandenburg, 50, was booked into the Oklahoma County jail on one count of threatening an act of violence. Court records say he threatened to kill state and federal law enforcement, and President Trump.
Vandenburg was arrested by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol after the semi truck he was driving was pulled over in the 1400 block of W. I-240 Service Road early Friday evening. The stop was part of an FBI investigation, officials said.
A plainclothes law enforcement officer had journalists move away from the white tractor cab as OHP and Oklahoma City Police K-9 bomb dogs swept the vehicle during the bustling dinner hour. Eventually the unmarked vehicles, police cars and tractor trailer drove away, with no mention of who was arrested, or for what. However court documents are bringing the evening’s events, and investigation dating back at least two weeks, into sharper focus.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Oklahoma County District Court Friday, Vandenburg was telephoned by his wife, Anissa Vandenburg, from the Oklahoma County jail in multiple phone calls over five days. Anissa Vandenburg, 47, is in custody after she was charged in April 2017 of allegedly conning an elderly Midwest City woman out of thousands of dollars. She filed for divorce this past August, however according to online court records, it appears the case was pulled after no one appeared in court.
Her husband, Harold Vandenburg, is accused of making multiple death threats during the recorded, expletive-filled calls with his wife against a downstate district attorney investigator if he didn’t get his wife back.
“If anyone has the balls to come take this .45 from me they better be wearing a vest,” Harold Vandenburg allegedly told his wife in one call.
After his wife said an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent interviewed her about the phone calls mentioning the investigator, court documents said Harold said he would kill every cop in the state, including the FBI, and that he would “shoot it out” with them “because without you, I don’t care about f—— living anymore.” Investigators also discovered he had reached out to a Durant funeral home to inquire about prepaid funeral arrangements.
In another call, court documents said Harold told his wife he was upset the FBI contacted his employer, a Guthrie-based trucking company, and allegedly said “I think every cop in the state of Oklahoma needs to be shot.”
In two separate calls last week, Harold allegedly told his wife to contact the FBI, that he was “about to blow a federal building up.” The next day, court documents said Harold threatened to blow up the White House, that he was going to kill President Trump.
An FBI spokesperson deferred comments on the case to the Oklahoma County District Attorney. News 4 reached out for comment, but have not yet heard back.
In one phone call, on October 30, Harold said he was surprised he hadn’t been arrested for threatening to kill all the police in the state. He got an answer to that question ten days later.
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