A jilted boyfriend’s festering hate for his ex-lover spawned bomb threats against eight Jewish community centers in a twisted plot to destroy her life, federal officials charged.
The anti-Semitic threats from disgraced journalist Juan Thompson were part of a months-long cyberstalking that increased in intensity and insanity, authorities said.
Thompson, 31, of St. Louis, was arrested over the menacing messages phoned or emailed to Jewish organizations between Jan. 28 and Feb. 22 — a period when the number of anti-Semitic incidents soared nationally. The feds investigated 122 bomb threats to nearly 100 Jewish schools, community centers and other facilities in more than 30 states since Jan. 9.
The New York offices of the Anti-Defamation League were twice targeted by Thompson, as were three other Manhattan locations: A Jewish middle school, a Jewish history museum and a Jewish community center.
The suspect invoked his ex-girlfriend’s name in making four of the bomb threats, the FBI said in court papers. In the other four, he used his own name — and then accused her of trying to frame him.
Three of those messages made a chilling reference to “a Jewish Newtown,” referencing the mass slaughter of 20 first-graders and six staffers at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
“Thompson appears to have made some of the … threats as part of a sustained campaign to harass and intimidate” the former girlfriend, according to an FBI complaint. “Thompson’s harassment appears to have begun shortly after their romantic relationship ended.”
Thompson was fired from news website The Intercept in February 2016 for using bogus quotes from an imaginary cousin of Dylann Roof — the racist gunman who killed nine black parishioners in a church in Charleston, S.C. When asked about the fabrications last year, he forwarded a letter written to a former editor in which he claimed he was being treated for testicular cancer.
Following his Friday morning arrest at his grandmother’s St. Louis home, Thompson was held without bail after a Federal Court appearance on charges of cyberstalking.
He wore a blue collarless shirt, khaki pants and handcuffs, politely answering questions before he was led away. A half-dozen supporters in the courtroom insisted Thompson had no previous arrests.
“Not a jaywalking ticket,” said one man. “Not a traffic ticket.”
He’s scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, with his transfer to New York among the topics on the docket.
Law enforcers were unimpressed by his clean rap sheet.
Thompson’s threats “not only involved the defamation of his female victim, but … intimidated an entire community,” said William Sweeney, head of the New York FBI office.
The bust comes at a time when NYPD officials say anti-Semitic crimes jumped by 94% through the end of February compared to the same time period last year.
“We’ve never seen the volume of bomb threats that we’ve seen,” ADL Regional Director Evan Bernstein said.
The horror show started once the Brooklyn woman, who Thompson identified as Francesca Rossi, dumped him in July 2016. Emails immediately followed to her employer charging that she was an anti-Semite suffering from a sexually-transmitted disease, a federal complaint charged.
Her name was also sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with a message claiming the woman kept child pornography photos on her phone.
Thompson turned his attention to the Jewish centers this year, making his first threat against the museum on Jan. 28, authorities charged.
“2 bombs in the History Museum set to go off Sunday,” read an email to the facility.
Thompson targeted Jewish groups in Manhattan, Dallas, San Diego and Farmington Hills, Mich., according to an FBI complaint.
Rossi “hates Jewish people (and) is the head of a ring and put a bomb in (the San Diego) center to kill as many Jews asap,” read one of the emails.
He tried to pin the threats that used his name on the former paramour, insisting that she was actually trying to undermine him, the FBI charged.
“Ya’ll know how to get a social worker in New York barred?” he tweeted last week. “I’m being stalked and harassed by a nasty white woman.”
The Intercept, where Thompson worked from November 2014 to January 2016, issued a statement distancing itself from the dismissed ex-employee.
“These actions are heinous and should be fully investigated and prosecuted,” read the statement.
With Adam Shrier