Willows man arrested after death threats were made to wildfire survivors, Butte deputies say

A Glenn County man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of making death threats to survivors of the Bear Fire, now known as the West Zone of the North Complex Fire, on social media.

In a news release, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office said Songkham Sirivongsa, 40, was taken into custody after the organizer of a benefit lunch for survivors of the wildfire received threatening messages on Facebook.

The luncheon was set to be held at Lakeside Market in Oroville, but the organizer started getting messages from a stranger who threatened to shoot and kill him and his friends.

The Sheriff’s Office sent additional patrols to Lakeside Market while detectives looked over the messages in an attempt to identify the person making the death threats.

Deputies, identifying a home in Willows located near the 800 block of Plumas Street as the source of the messages and obtained a search warrant for the property.

During the search, deputies made contact with Sirivongsa, and found evidence in the home that connected him to the messages. They also found a firearm and ammunition. Detectives later discovered that he was prohibited from possessing firearms.

Sirivongsa was taken into custody on suspicion of making criminal threats and was booked into the Butte County jail that evening on a $50,000 bail. The Sheriff’s Office will be acquiring an arrest warrant out of Glenn County in order to pursue charges for illegal firearm possession as well.

He is scheduled to be arraigned at the Butte County Superior Court on Sept. 16.