Juan Thompson, a former journalist, was arrested on cyberstalking charges in St Louis and appeared before a federal court. He had been laid off because he crossed the line by falsifying facts in his stories in an attempt to harass and produce false evidence against his ex-girlfriend, according to federal agents. Jewish institutions across the country recently received threats and were vandalized as a result of his fabricated stories.
Since the beginning of January this year, more than a hundred threats were made against the Jewish institutions, in some cases leading to Jews being forced out of their Community Centers and in others children out their schools. The attackers have also vandalized Jewish cemeteries breaking the gravestones, in three cities.
The Anti-Defamation League is the calling the threats an epidemic. They have calculated a total of 121 threats since January 1.
New York experienced the latest attack, and it occurred in Rochester.
The New York’s Anti-Defamation League regional director, Evan Bernstein, told a press conference on Friday,” Just because there’s been an arrest today doesn’t mean that threats have disappeared or will stop.” He added,” There are much more JCC bomb threats that have not been solved, and we hope all law enforcement will continue to be diligent.” Mr. Bernstein himself is not free of bomb threats himself either.
January 28, was the day that Thompson began his writing his threats and it is unknown why he targeted Jewish institutions. In his first threat, he sent an email to the New York Jewish History Museum and made it seem like his ex-girlfriend was sending the message.
“Juan Thompson put 2 bombs in the History Museum set to go off Sunday,” the email said.
He sent similar emails to a Farmington Hills Jewish school, in Michigan and another to a community center and school in Manhattan, according to the authorities.
He gave his ex-girlfriend’s name several times while sending threatening emails and making phone calls, according to a court complaint.
An anonymous email was sent to The Council on American-Islamic Relations saying that his ex-girlfriend had put a bomb in the Dallas Jewish center.
Later on, he wrote on Twitter saying,” Know any good lawyers? Need to stop this nasty/racist #whitegirl I dated who sent a bomb threat in my name.”
He did not stop there as he tweeted the secret service saying, “I have been tormented by an anti-Semite. She sent an anti-Jewish bomb threat in my name. Help.”
It was all an elaborate ruse according to the police, and they thought that Thompson was trying to frame the woman.
Thompson was working at The Intercept an online publication until last year when they fired him. He was accused of falsifying quotes and impersonating people with fabricated email accounts one of them being his editor-in-chief.
Among his fabricated stories, one was about Dylann Roof, who was white and shot worshipers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, who were black. In Thompson’s story, he said that the shooting involved a love triangle where the shooter lost his love interest to a black man. Thompson then quoted Scott Roof, who was Mr. Roof’s cousin, but it was later known that there was no cousin by that name.
The Intercept said Thompson’s arrest came as a shock to them.
