A longtime South Florida nurse accused of making videos threatening Vice President Kamala Harris' life has been arrested on federal charges.
Niviane Petit Phelps, of Miami Gardens, was arrested following an investigation by the U.S. Secret Service.
The 39-year-old, who has worked for Jackson Health System since 2001, faces charges of threats against the vice president, according to a criminal complaint.
The complaint said Phelps had sent videos to her husband, who is imprisoned in Crawfordville, through a computer application that allows families to connect with prisoners.
The Hurricane season is on. Our meteorologists are ready. Sign up for the NBC 6 Weather newsletter to get the latest forecast in your inbox.
In the videos, Phelps is seen "complaining and speaking angirly to the camera about her hatred for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, among others," the complaint said.
But in February, Phelps began to make statements about killing Harris, the complaint said.
"Kamala Harris you are going to die. Your days are numbered already. Someone paid me $53,000 just to f--- you up and I'm gonna take the, I'm gonna do the job, okay," Phelps said in one video, according to the complaint.
Local
In another, she talks about going to a shooting range, according to the complaint.
"I'm going to the gun range, just for your ass, until you f---in leave the chair," she allegedly said.
The complaint said investigators also found a photo that showed Phelps at a shooting range, holding a pistol and smiling next to a target with bullet holes.
Phelps also applied for a concealed weapons permit in February, the complaint said.
Phelps later told investigators she was angry about Harris becoming vice president but was "over it now," the complaint said.
In a statement, Jackson Health said Phelps has worked for them since 2001, spending the past couple years as a licensed practical nurse at the Ambulatory Care Center West at Jackson Memoria Medical Center.
"She has been suspended without pay while we process her employment termination," the hospital system's statement read.
Heroeia Petit, Phelps' mother, told NBC 6 that her daughter is "sick" and "she doesn't even know what she's doing." She hopes the charges can be dropped.
"Don’t punish her ... 'cause she listened to what people tell her," Petit said. " ... She’s desperate. She don’t got nothing to do. Her husband’s been in jail 10 years, two children. The house, she lost everything."
