Wisconsin Man Is Charged in Fake NFL Stadium Threats (Update3)
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- A 20-year-old Wisconsin man was charged with making false threats on the Internet to detonate ``dirty bombs'' at seven National Football League stadiums, federal prosecutors in Newark, New Jersey, said.
Jake J. Brahm, a grocery worker who lives with his parents in Wauwatosa, faces as much as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney's office said. Brahm surrendered to federal marshals in Milwaukee today.
The threat, claiming truck bombs loaded with radioactive materials would be detonated at games Oct. 22, was declared a fake by the Federal Bureau of Investigation yesterday.
``There is no evidence that Mr. Brahm had either the ability or the intention to deliver dirty bombs to any of these stadiums,'' U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said today at a news conference in Newark. He called the bogus threat ``the Internet version of yelling fire in a crowded theater.''
Brahm's attorney, Patrick Knight of Milwaukee, didn't return two voice-mail messages from Bloomberg News seeking comment.
Repeated Threat
Brahm was initially taken into custody on Oct. 19 by police in Wauwatosa, a city of about 47,000 people about three miles (4.83 kilometers) west of Milwaukee.
``For Mr. Brahm, this is the big league,'' Leslie Wiser, special agent in charge of the FBI's New Jersey office, said at the news conference. ``Don't mess with football.''
Brahm admitted posting the threat more than 40 times between September and Oct. 19, according to a criminal complaint filed by prosecutors. The threat was then reposted on various Web sites, the complaint said.
The message warned that ``dirty explosive devices'' in trucks would target seven U.S. cities: Atlanta, Cleveland, Houston, Miami, New York, Oakland and Seattle. The posting claimed the death toll would reach as much as 100,000, and that ``countless other fatalities'' would result from radioactive fallout, the complaint said.
The message predicted that civil war, economic strife and ``general chaos'' would erupt throughout the globe afterward, the complaint said.
Brahm posted the messages as part of a ``writing duel'' between himself and a Brownsville, Texas, man to see who could post the most frightening threat, the Associated Press reported, citing an unidentified FBI official in Washington who requested anonymity because the case is still under investigation. Brahm didn't mean any real harm, Knight told AP.
Outpost Natural Foods, a natural foods store near Brahm's home, hired him as a clerk about 10 weeks ago, assistant store manager Jeremy Layman told AP. Brahm was a ``normal guy'' who was on time and wasn't a concern, Layman said.
Brahm was scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Patricia J. Gorence in Milwaukee at 2:30 p.m. local time today.
The National Football League declined to comment.
To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net; David Voreacos in U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Aimee Sullivan at asullivan@bloomberg.net.
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