Philly man accused of witness intimidation via Facebook

A 20-year-old Kensington man is accused of using Facebook to threaten witnesses against his friends who were charged in a weapons case.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office alleges that Freddie Henriquez obtained a witness' statement and posted images of it on Facebook, accompanied with a caption that said "RATS." Henriquez also posted other threatening messages on Facebook, authorities say. In an August post provided by prosecutors, he wrote, "KILL RATS point blank period."

Those threats came after four of his associates were arrested in February for an alleged conspiracy involving straw purchases of firearms.

Henriquez was taken into custody Monday and charged with witness retaliation, witness intimidation and terroristic threats, authorities said.

He is being held on $250,000 bail and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 2.

Two of his associates have pleaded guilty in the firearms case. Jeffrey Maldonado, 23, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to make false statements and providing false information for firearm ownership. He was sentenced to 11 to 23 months in jail. Qumere Jenkins, 19, pleaded guilty in October to the same charges was sentenced to nine to 23 months behind bars. Cases are still pending against 19-year-old Christian Maldonado and 22-year-old Anthony Espinosa.