The FBI says it first investigated Jonathan Hunter Kramer in 2023, when he was a minor, before arresting the Butler County man Saturday, Sept. 12, over an alleged ISIS-inspired attack plan.
Kramer, 20, of Valencia, was taken into custody after agents found a semiautomatic rifle, ammunition, loaded magazines, pepper spray, a scope, and other gear at a Cranberry Township hotel, according to a criminal complaint.
Daily Voice obtained the court documents Monday, Sept. 14.
Kramer is charged with receiving a firearm and ammunition while knowing, or having reason to believe, they would be used to commit a felony or federal terrorism crime. He remains in federal custody.
The complaint is not connected to the Trump rally shooting or to the recent federal case against Butler resident Shawn Monper, who was charged after authorities said he made online threats against Trump and other officials.
Butler County drew worldwide attention in July 2024 when Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at Trump’s campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds. Crooks killed firefighter Corey Comperatore and injured others before he was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper. Crooks lived in Bethel Park, Allegheny County.
The FBI said its investigation of Kramer began in March 2023, after an online tip about threats connected to a Telegram account. Agents identified Kramer as the user, obtained search warrants, and searched his Valencia home the following month, according to the affidavit.
Investigators later tied Kramer to Reddit accounts with crude, seemingly joking usernames — including “u/i_love_femboys6969” and “u/ILoveGayRobloxPorn” — through his email address, phone number, internet records, and prior device evidence. The affidavit says the accounts were used to post ISIS-related propaganda and violent imagery.
During the 2023 search, agents said they found a recording in which Kramer pledged allegiance to the former ISIS leader. He was later adjudicated delinquent on Pennsylvania charges involving child sexual abuse material and prohibited offensive weapons, according to the complaint, and sent to a juvenile treatment center in Oil City.
Kramer was released in March and returned to his family’s home. Within days, the FBI received another tip from someone close to him who raised concerns about his internet access, new cellphone, and packages arriving at the home, the affidavit states.
Investigators said they then linked Kramer to an encrypted-messaging account using the name “Hamza Al Rashid.” The FBI alleges the account expressed support for ISIS and discussed attacking crowds.
In a Sept. 9 message cited in the complaint, the account said its “mission” was ready once it had a weapon.
On Saturday, agents watched Kramer leave home in an Uber carrying a backpack, travel to a Walmart in Gibsonia, buy a disposable cellphone, and meet someone in the parking lot, court records state. Surveillance footage appeared to show him receiving a long black bag from the trunk of another vehicle.
Kramer then took an Uber to the Cranberry Park Hotel, where he paid $450 cash for a weeklong stay, the FBI said. Agents later approached him after he visited Dunham’s Sports.
Searches of his bags and hotel room turned up a DPMS Panther Arms semiautomatic rifle, 5.56-caliber ammunition, three 30-round rifle magazines, two loaded magazines, a bipod, a scope, pepper spray, and Faraday bags designed to block electronic signals, according to the complaint.
Federal agents also searched his family’s home, where they said they found about 30 knives and an undated note.
The case is pending in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
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