CT man accused of threatening Staples employee on social media using ‘Family Guy’ reference

A Chaplin man faces charges for allegedly threatening an employee at a Staples store in Willimantic when he took to social media to reference a violent episode of a cartoon.

Jeremy Bassett, 42, has been charged with second-degree threatening and second-degree breach of peace in connection with an incident last month when he had a hard time returning an iPad he had purchased, according to the Connecticut State Police.

According to the warrant affidavit for his arrest, Bassett went to the Staples store on April 9 about 40 minutes before it was set to close for the evening and tried returning an iPad he had bought online. The cashier was not able to process the return, as the system indicated the item had already been returned and that the customer had initiated a return over the phone with customer service representatives, the warrant affidavit said.

Another employee assisted in explaining the situation to Bassett, who allegedly “seemed like a typical frustrated customer,” the employee later told investigators. Bassett eventually left the store.

The employee told police they believed they spoke to Bassett the next day when someone called the store inquiring about a return, the warrant affidavit said. The return was eventually processed when Bassett returned to the store a second time, the employee told investigators.

The following morning, the employee was alerted by Staples officials that someone had made threats over social media on X, which formerly was called Twitter.

“Sad you can’t even DM this fraudulent retailer without a premium account so I have to put them on blast in a tweet,” Bassett allegedly wrote, the warrant affidavit said. “I. Want. My. Money. In the next two days or the managers of the Willimantic CT Staples better google ‘Family Guy Stewie Where’s my money?’ I’m not playing.”

In a second social media post, Bassett allegedly made a reference to the Staples manager being in his basement and made other statements that were redacted before the warrant affidavit was released, according to the document.

“I’m going back tomorrow,” he allegedly wrote.

The employee told state police the episode of Family Guy Bassett was referencing involved a character savagely beating another character while repeatedly asking “Where’s my money?” the warrant affidavit said.

According to the warrant affidavit, the employee said they were “a little freaked out” upon seeing the social media posts.

“I am not overwhelmingly panicked, but at the same time I am freaked out about the situation,” the employee said, according to the warrant affidavit. “A little nervous and scared. I am not sure if he would come back and do anything. How he acted in the store and over the Internet was different. But who knows, he very well could come back to the store.”

State troopers during the investigation went to Bassett’s home and notified him that he had been trespassed from all Staples stores, the warrant affidavit said. He told investigators he made a Google review in which he was “just letting off some steam” and acknowledged that what he wrote on X “might have been a little bit too much,” state police wrote in the warrant affidavit.

State police said Bassett was arrested on May 10 and arraigned later in the day in Rockville Superior Court. Court records indicate he remains held on $5,000 and is due back in court on May 30.

Bassett has not entered a plea to the charges, records show.