Man who made bomb threats against Jewish centers gets 5 years

Juan Thompson, who was convicted of making fake bomb threats against Jewish community centers across the US, was sent to prison for five years. 

By: World Israel News Staff

Juan Thompson, a disgraced former reporter for The Intercept, was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison for making a number of bomb threats against Jewish institutions across the US.

Thompson was arrested in St. Louis, Missouri, in March by the FBI for making several threats against Jewish institutions, including the sending of an email in January to the Jewish History Museum in New York City from a decoy account that was meant to frame Francesca Rossi, his ex-girlfriend.

District Judge P. Kevin Castel said Thompson, 32, committed domestic terrorism with threats in the name of Rossi on a dozen occasions against Jewish community centers, schools or other facilities nationwide.

The judge said Thompson created a sustained campaign against Rossi “to terrorize her and cause pain” to others.

“His intelligence and creativity made him such a horror,” the judge said.

Thompson, who pleaded guilty in June to cyber stalking and making fake bomb threats to a dozen Jewish facilities, apologized at the sentencing, conceding, “there are wounds … that will probably never heal.”

Rossi said she was grateful to be alive, but was “not convinced that he still won’t try to kill me.” She also said digital technology should be recognized as “a powerful weapon to inflict violence.”

“Countless people are subjected to the same type and degree of stalking and abuse that Juan inflicted on me,” she said. “And worse.”

Thompson’s threats came as more than 150 bomb threats were reported against Jewish community centers and day schools in 37 states and two Canadian provinces. Authorities blamed most on an 18-year-old Israeli-American Jewish hacker arrested in Israel in March.

AP contributed to this report.