A disgraced former reporter was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Friday for several bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers, Jewish schools and other Jewish organizations around the country.
Juan Thompson, 31, was arrested in St. Louis by the FBI for making at least eight bomb threats and the cyberstalking of an ex-girlfriend. Thompson was a former reporter for The Intercept, and was fired after it was discovered that he made up sources and stories, including one about Charleston shooter Dylann Roof.
The criminal complaint states that threats made to the Jewish establishments across the country by Thompson were under his name and the name of his ex-girlfriend, and occurred after the relationship ended. The threats were made by both email and phone calls.
Dozens of Jewish Community Center bomb threats have occurred throughout the country since President Donald Trump’s election, and liberal groups and politicians have attacked Trump for them. The president condemned the threats during his address to Congress, but he reportedly said earlier that day, “sometimes it’s the reverse, to make people — or to make others — look bad.”
Thompson’s Twitter account, which is referenced in the criminal complaint, espouses communist and anti-Trump beliefs. Several tweets from the Twitter account are mentioned in the criminal complaint.
The criminal complaint references a tweet from Thompson that said, “Know any good lawyers? Need to stop this nasty/racist [white girl] I dated who sent a bomb threat in my name & wants me to be raped in jail.”
“I’m been tormenting by an anti-semite named Francesca Rossi,” the account also tweeted. “She works for [Housing and Services inc]. She sent an antijewish bomb threat in my name. Help.”
Thompson also tweeted about the Jewish Community Center threats as recently as this past week. “Another week, another round of threats against Jewish ppl. In the middle of the day, you know who’s at a JCC? Kids. KIDS,” the former reporter wrote Monday.
He also tweeted, “[Trump] is not insane. That’s a slur against ppl who actually suffer w/mental health issues. He is simply a racist/sexist/capitalist monster.”
