CHICAGO - FBI agents are talking to Des Plaines police about a Facebook post in which a Des Plaines man allegedly threatened to lynch U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson.

Special Agent Garrett Croon said Tuesday that FBI agents "are aware of a social media posting generated in Des Plaines, IL and are in contact with local authorities" - potentially raising the stakes for 54-year-old Tom Keevers, who denies posting the racist message on Facebook last week.

Keevers on Monday told the Chicago Tribune that he was set up by a stranger who created a phony Facebook post attributed to him and then shared it on Twitter, where it quickly went viral. But he gave conflicting accounts, at times saying he had never threatened to lynch Wilson and at other times saying he could not remember what he wrote in a since-deleted thread about the congresswoman, while insisting the post appeared to him to be a harmless "joke."

Des Plaines police said Monday that they were investigating the post, which reads "Need ten good men to help carry out a lynching. Must have own horse and saddle. Rope will be provided."

Tuesday's FBI statement pointedly says the post was "generated in Des Plaines," a line that Croon stood by when told that Keevers denies authoring the post.