Ex-journalist charged over bomb threats to US Jewish groups
NEW YORK: A disgraced former journalist made eight bomb threats to Jewish organisations across the US, including one in which he called for a ‘Jewish Newtown’, posing as an exgirlfriend to retaliate after she had broken up with him, US prosecutors said on Friday.
Juan Thompson, 31, was taken into custody on Friday morning in St. Louis, the first arrest to result from a federal investigation into a surge of threats against Jewish Community Centres (JCCs) and schools that has rattled American Jews.
Authorities are examining more than 100 threats made against JCCs by phone in five waves this year, which appear to be unrelated to the Thompson allegations.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director James Comey met with Jewish leaders on Friday morning to discuss the ongoing investigation.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan accused Thompson of making threats, mostly by email, against organisations including a Jewish museum in New York and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
All occurred after the first flood of phone threats in early January. The hoax threats against JCCs have stoked fears of a resurgence in anti-Semitism and forced many centres to be evacuated, including some with daycare for young children.
Prosecutors said Thompson aimed to portray his exgirlfriend as an anti-Semite, a characterisation he repeated on Twitter.
It was unclear if he shared those sentiments, and his recent posts did not include explicit antiSemitic thoughts.
But the ADL said he had been ‘on the radar’ due to activities, including ‘rants against white people’.
Thompson was a reporter for the Intercept, a news website, until he was fired for allegedly inventing sources and quotes.
Intercept editor Betsy Reed said in a statement that the website was ‘horrified’ by his arrest.
The Intercept said in February 2016 that Thompson had employed a fake email account to pose as a source in an effort to hide his fabrications.
Thompson was due to appear in federal court in St. Louis later Friday on one count of cyberstalking. It was not clear whether he had a lawyer. – Reuters