Dushko Vanelinov Vulchev allegedly used a neighbor’s wireless account to threaten EU leadership.

A native of Bulgaria who is now a U.S. citizen living in Houlton was arrested Sunday on a federal charge accusing him of sending death threats to a member of the European Commission, the governing body of the European Union in Belgium.

Dushko Vanelinov Vulchev, 38, is accused of telling an unnamed commissioner from Bulgaria in an email on Feb. 5 that he would kill other members of the commission if they didn’t carry out his demands that Bulgarians receive jobs in Europe.

“I will slit your throats,” Vulchev wrote in one email and “kill you like chickens,” according to an FBI complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

Vulchev used his neighbor’s wireless account to access the Internet and investigators initially focused on the neighbor, but they shifted their attention to Vulchev because the threats were written in Bulgarian, FBI Agent James McCarthy said in an affidavit filed in support of a warrant for Vulchev’s arrest.

Though Vulchev’s case is being processed in Bangor, he was brought to federal court in Portland on Monday to make his initial court appearance on a charge of threats in foreign commerce.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John H. Rich III ordered Vulchev temporarily held pending a detention hearing on Thursday in Bangor.

Vulchev faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted.