Man Recieves 6 Months In Jail and House Arrest For Fake Bomb Threats On 4chan
Jake J. Brahm, a 22 year old grocery store clerk from Wisconsin has been sentence to six months in jail and a further six months of house arrest following several bomb threats he posted on the internet 2 years ago.
Brahm posted the threats on 4chan.org 40 times in September and October of 2006. He said that on Oct. 22, 2006, seven “dirty” explosive devices would be detonated during NFL games at stadiums in Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland, Cleveland and New York City.
The young man detailed that trucks would deliver the bombs and that thousands would die as a result of the blasts. He also claimed Osama Bin Laden would refer to it as "America’s Hiroshima".
“the death toll will approach 100,000 from the initial blasts and countless other fatalities will later occur as result from radioactive fallout.”
The threats Brahm had posted on 4chan quickly made their way around the web and caused a great deal of concern during the period of time when they were believed to be genuine. A warrant for Brahm’s arrest was issued in October and he turned himself in on the 20th of that month, just two days before the day the bombs were supposed to be detonated.
Despite the fact that Brahm had turned himself in before the date the incident was supposed to occur, significant amounts of money had already been spent on increased security at the stadiums in question. U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares ordered Brahm to pay restitution totaling $26,750, an amount which represents $18,000 to the Cleveland Browns and $8,750 to the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates Giants Stadium in East Rutherford (the target of the New York attack). The fine is to cover the cost of expanded public- and privately-funded security, including sniffing dogs, extra cops and extra stadium security.
Jake Brahm was indicted on the 28th of February 2008 for posting fake terrorist threats online however, there have been times when threats posted online have been carried out. In November of last year, an 18 year old high school student in Finland posted a video on YouTube detailing plans for a school shooting. Titled “Jokela High School Massacre”, the video showed images of the school and clips on the young man who committed the crime holding a semiautomatic weapon. Nine people were killed including the gunman himself.
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Jane McEntegart works in marketing communications at Intel and was previously Manager of Content Marketing at ASUS North America. Before that, she worked for more than seven years at Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware, holding such roles as Contributing Editor and Senior News Editor and writing about everything from smartphones to tablets and games consoles.
