A man using an apparent Marvel alias is accused of taking a gun to a Central Bucks school board meeting

Addressing the Central Bucks school board at its most recent meeting, a man who gave his name as Franklin Castels praised its policy targeting sexually explicit content in library books, a topic that has drawn backlash in the district.

Arguing that the district had been harboring “child pornography” in its libraries, he told the Democratic members of the Republican-majority board during the March 14 meeting: “I would suggest you take your colleagues to a steak dinner, because they kept you out of prison.”

Toward the end of the night, as he leaned forward in his seat, a person behind him saw a gun.

Through a lawyer, the man, whose actual name is Jim Del Rio, denied having a gun at the meeting. But the audience member who saw one reported it, and Del Rio was approached that night by district security and police, according to community members.

Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said school officials and police consulted him about ”whether there was any criminal culpability” stemming from an incident at the meeting.

“We were asked whether a person that had a valid permit to carry a concealed firearm would be permitted by law to be in that building,” Weintraub said, referring to the district’s administration building, where school board meetings are held.

Pennsylvania law says weapons aren’t permitted on school property. However, Weintraub said there is “some nuance” in the law over whether school administration buildings fall in that category.

He believes Central Bucks’ building does — but also felt “there would be no way for any person to know that without some clearly posted notification.” He advised the district that if it wanted to prohibit guns, it should post signs outside the building saying that weapons aren’t allowed, with video cameras positioned to capture evidence of people walking past the signs.

The lawyer for Del Rio, meanwhile, said he “absolutely 100% did not have a gun at the meeting.” The lawyer, Chadwick Schnee, said Del Rio was “stopped outside the meeting” but denied having a gun and wasn’t searched by police.

(A person in the audience told The Inquirer that Del Rio’s shirt came up as he leaned forward toward the end of the meeting, and a gun was visible in his waistband. “It was very clearly a gun,” said the person, who asked not to be identified out of safety concerns.)

The Doylestown Township police did not return repeated messages left this week.

Del Rio has been banned by the district from attending future meetings, said Schnee, who previously represented parents who sued the state and the Central Bucks district over masking. He said Del Rio, who is a district parent, was told he could attend other school functions but not school board meetings.

“If he’s truly a safety and security threat ... why isn’t it a wholesale ban?” Schnee said. He suggested the district was banning Del Rio “due to the content of his speech,” jeopardizing his constitutional rights.

District officials didn’t respond to questions this week about the incident, instead referring a reporter to Weintraub’s office.

Asked why Del Rio used an alias, Schnee said that in light of the heated discourse around school board issues, “he has a right to be concerned about his own safety.” He said he wasn’t aware of the particulars of aliases used by Del Rio.

Residents questioned Del Rio’s intentions in light of the aliases — which appeared to them to be versions of the Marvel “Punisher” character, Francis “Frank” Castle, a Marine-turned-vigilante.

In December, Del Rio signed in as “Francisco Castillo.” In October, he addressed the board as “Francis Castle” — telling the board that “as a former intelligence officer ... this drivel” from opponents of the district’s policies, which have been criticized as harming LGBTQ students, “is right out of the KGB playbook.” He then alleged the government was pushing “porn literacy” for children, and said school board directors could be criminally liable for placing “obscene material in front of children.”

Del Rio used his real name while speaking at January’s meeting.

As he returned to his seat at the March meeting, Tabitha Dell’Angelo, one of the Democrats on the board, asked: “Can we clear up once and for all whether public commenters need to give their actual names?”

The district’s solicitor, Jeffrey Garton, said that “if you have evidence that someone has misstated who they are, you should check before they speak again. There’s no question.”

In an interview, Dell’Angelo questioned Del Rio’s use of aliases — saying she was unsure “whether he thinks it’s funny, or whether he’s up to no good.” She also said the prospect of a weapon at a board meeting had created anxiety.

The climate “is heightened,” she said. “It’s not just that we disagree with one another — now we have to worry about physical safety.”

At the start of the March meeting, Dana Hunter, the school board president and a Republican on the board, called for stopping the “doxxing of those who offer public comment” and “the demonizing of those who have a different opinion.” She said she and other board members had received threatening emails and messages that had been shared with the police.

Lifting her phone to the microphone, she played what she said was one of those voicemails: “It’s unfortunate you weren’t aborted in the first place,” the message said, before using the C-word. “Hopefully you get in a car accident and don’t survive today. For the betterment of not only this country but humankind. You will be judged accordingly by history.”