A Tampa dentist accused of sending online threats to multiple people, including a politician, was arrested Tuesday in Pinellas County.
Federal investigators said Richard Kantwill sent hundreds of online messages threatening injury or death, even after agents with the FBI told him to stop. Kantwill, 60, faces three counts related to interstate transmission of a threat to injure.
In a motion for a pretrial detention hearing, state attorneys urged a federal judge to hold Kantwill without bond until his trial begins, saying he poses a danger to the community.
Court records also presented a few of the threats made by Kantwill. Redacted text messages and emails contain apparent expletives, including what appear to be racial and anti-gay slurs.
In one text message, Kantwill made death threats to a person he identified as a “fake Reverend.”
“Being the anti-Christ piece of s—t that you are, we are going to kill you. Torture first, then death,” the text from Kantwill reads.
The victim installed nearly $4,500 worth of surveillance cameras “due to his genuine fear of Kantwill,” according to court records.
A private message sent by Kantwill through Instagram to another person reads, “Cannot wait to shoot your ghetto ass in the street,” followed by a racial slur.
In September 2019, he wrote to one victim: “God bless the Great President Trump and his family. F—k you and yours. Hire extra security … you’re gonna need it.”
The next month, the FBI interviewed Kantwill and told him to stop sending the messages.
“Despite the FBI’s warning, Kantwill spent the next 10 months sending threats to over 40 victims via social media and email,” the motion states.
In February, Kantwill threatened a politician, who wasn’t named in court records, via Facebook, according to an ongoing FBI investigation.
“Take note because liberal (expletive) like you get raped in alleys,” the message states. “You are our number 1 target, you degenerate (expletive).”
Kantwill also boasted about his weapons collection in Facebook messages, indicating he had a large collection that he would “NEVER surrender,” records show. Investigators said he sought to buy “automatic and highly illegal” firearms from another Facebook user.
The dentist wrote about “enjoying the violence of his military service,” telling some over Facebook that he “loved creating widows and orphans.”
In 2007, Kantwill broke the terms of an agreement to voluntarily withdraw from practicing medicine after he relapsed on alcohol while battling addiction, according to Florida Department of Health disciplinary records.
He stopped attending required group sessions and performed dental services during the relapse. Kantwill received a reprimand and a $3,000 fine from the Board of Dentistry.
Kantwill’s care philosophy states that “patients expect to be treated with kindness, compassion and personalized care, and that’s what you can expect each time you visit our office,” according to his review page on Healthgrades.com.
Records show his license is active through February 2026.
Kantwill was booked into a Pinellas County jail on Tuesday evening and is being held without bond. No lawyer was listed for Kantwill as of Thursday afternoon. Efforts to reach those who know him were unsuccessful.
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