Northeast Philly man held over threatening calls to office of U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz

A 44-year-old Northeast Philadelphia man who claimed to be an ex-Marine was arrested and charged by the feds yesterday with threatening to kill staff members of U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz's office.

In a phone call Wednesday to Schwartz's Philadelphia office on Frankford Avenue, Jesse L. Keel allegedly told a staffer who answered the phone that "he had a problem and needed help," an affidavit released yesterday says.

"Schwartz always gets his vote but never does anything for him," Keel allegedly told the staffer, adding that "he was not far away, was an ex-Marine, and can jump on the bus with a rifle, stand on the roof across the street from the congressional office and either shoot" the staff member "or everyone in the office."

Keel then called back and told another staff member that he was at an Aria Health hospital in Philadelphia. The staff member previously had received information that Keel had threatened other members of Congress and had been banned from the Social Security Administration office in Philadelphia, the affidavit says.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert K. Reed asked that the staff members' names not be published for their safety.

An FBI agent who went to interview Keel later that day at the hospital found that Keel had just been discharged. The agent said in the affidavit that hospital staff told him that Keel "was screaming and would not calm down."

"Keel said that he was going to call his congressman and lawyer and wanted to talk with them about his lost dentures," the affidavit says.

The hospital had Keel undergo a brief psychiatric evaluation and determined that he did not have to be involuntarily committed, according to the affidavit.

On Wednesday night, the FBI agent found Keel at his apartment, listed in public records as being on Academy Road near Woodhaven. Keel was calm and said he had called Schwartz's office "to complain about the hospital and his lost dentures." He contended that he told the congresswoman's staffer that "someone needed to get shot, referring to the hospital staff," the affidavit says.

Keel is now in federal custody. At his initial appearance yesterday before Magistrate Judge M. Faith Angell, the judge granted a government motion for Keel to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. A hearing was set for Sept. 10 to review Keel's competency.

Reed said afterward that Keel is unemployed and receives Social Security benefits.

Schwartz's office directed inquiries to federal authorities.

James McHugh, the assistant federal defender who represented Keel in court yesterday, declined to comment on the case.