Cape Elizabeth man facing federal charges for threatening NPR hostsBangor Daily NewsPORTLAND, Maine — A Cape Elizabeth man is being held on federal charges that he used computers in Portland when he threatened to torture and kill National Public Radio hosts Melissa Block and Guy Raz.
Because e-mails allegedly sent by John Crosby to NPR’s website crossed state lines, Crosby faces two counts of Class D transmitting threatening communications in interstate commerce, each of which carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to documents on file in U.S. District Court in Portland.
According to an affidavit written by Nathan Jacobs, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crosby used the “Contact Us” function on NPR’s website to make multiple threats against Block and Raz, who host the NPR programs “All Things Considered” and “Weekend All Things Considered,” respectively.
Crosby’s obscenity-laden messages threatened various acts of violence against Block because, among other reasons, “she is a commissar who is helping to destroy me and use me as human sacrifice,” according to a message allegedly sent by Crosby on Jan. 17, according to the affidavit. That e-mail was sent from a Starbucks on Congress Street in Portland.
NPR told the FBI that it had received at least two similar e-mails in November and December 2010 from a person using a similar name that included the racial epithet “kike.” Jacobs traced the origin of those e-mails and others sent in January to an Internet address associated with the University of Southern Maine.
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