Federal agents have charged an Indiana man with transmitting online threats to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last week as the Chicago area experienced a renewed wave of immigration enforcement actions.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed this week in the Northern District of Indiana, 35-year-old Alexander Frances Jakeway of Valparaiso was arrested after Homeland Security Investigations’ Chicago office traced a series of allegedly threatening social media posts to him.
The posts, made under the Twitter username @heelest, included statements urging people to “shoot an ICE agent dead” and “actually kill these goons,” according to an affidavit filed by an HSI task force officer. Another tweet, referencing a recent immigration action in Chicago, said simply, “Shoot on sight.”
Investigators said Jakeway’s threats appeared on November 4, the same day federal immigration officers and local law enforcement conducted a string of high-profile operations across the Chicago region that officials said targeted migrants with outstanding deportation orders. The posts garnered immediate attention within HSI’s Chicago office task force in Hammond, which monitors online chatter for potential threats against agents.
Federal agents linked the posts to Jakeway by cross-referencing his social media accounts, e-commerce listings, and a previous arrest, according to the complaint. It said the @heelest account was connected to a Shopify site selling T-shirts under the same name, and both were tied to a Discogs music profile operated by an “Alex Jakeway” of Valparaiso. A Facebook account belonging to Jakeway allegedly included a comment confirming his X handle as “@heelest.” Investigators found the same name and birthdate in Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles records.
An agent said investigators compared photos from Jakeway’s Facebook account with his mugshot from an unspecified arrest and determined that the images are “visually similar.”
Jakeway was charged with transmitting threats to injure another person via interstate communications.
His Twitter account has been suspended for violating the platform’s rules, but his other social media accounts and his online t-shirt shop remained active as of Friday morning.
The case comes as Homeland Security and ICE have intensified operations in Chicago and surrounding suburbs, including recent enforcement actions across the city that have drawn online backlash. Law enforcement sources say federal agents have faced an uptick in online hostility linked to the surge, prompting increased digital monitoring by HSI.
