(Jewish Group) Man behind threats against NYC Jewish centers gets 5 years

[Behind the Aegis]

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

Juan Thompson, the ex-journalist whose threats to Jewish centers set off fears of right-wing anti-Semitism in the wake of last year’s presidential election, was sentenced to five years in prison in Manhattan federal court Wednesday after an ex-girlfriend he cyberstalked said she still feared him.

“Men like Juan Thompson usually end up murdering their victims,” Francesca Rossi, a Brooklyn social worker, said in a riveting statement to U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel. “I feared for my life every day. I’m still not convinced that he still won’t try to kill me.

Thompson, 32, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty in June to cyberstalking Rossi for 9 months and making at least 12 hoax threats to Jewish community centers, some in her name, as part of a bizarre internet campaign to smear her as an anti-Semite, drunk, child pornographer and loose woman.

Until his arrest, the anonymous threats to centers from New York to San Diego — including one warning of a “Jewish Newtown,” a reference to the notorious school shooting — were among a series of incidents that led to a panic about anti-Semitism linked to Donald Trump’s election.

But Rossi, her voice breaking occasionally during a 15-minute statement, gave the first detailed narrative of the events leading up to the threats, urging Castel to impose a sentence that recognized a different link — between misogynistic violence against women and domestic terrorism.

more...