Man Sentenced For Threats Against NPR Hosts

Man Who Threatened Hosts Is Sentenced

The man who pleaded guilty in a case in which he was charged with threatening to hurt or kill NPR "ALL THINGS CONSIDERED" hosts MELISSA BLOCK and GUY RAZ in over 20 e-mail messages sent through the contact form at NPR.org has been sentenced to 46 months in prison, reports the PORTLAND PRESS HERALD. 

JOHN CROSBY pleaded guolty in APRIL to two counts in the case, including using interstate communications to injure a person and illegally possessing a firearm.  U.S. District Court Judge GEORGE SINGAL sentenced CROSBY to 46 months on each charge, to be served concurrently, followed by three years of supervised release.

Messages sent by CROSBY threatened BLOCK with rape, torture, and murder and RAZ with hanging, and included anti-Semitic comments.  Other messages did not mention the hosts by name but also contained threats.  The FBI traced the messages to IP addresses at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE and a STARBUCKS in PORTLAND and determined through school records that CROSBY's computer was used to send some of the messages.

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