Juan Thompson, 31, a former journalist who was charged with making at least eight bomb threats to Jewish organizations in the US appeared before Magistrate Judge James Francis in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday afternoon.
Thompson, who was arrested in St. Louis in early March, was wearing beige prison garb for his court appearance. He was accompanied by two public defenders at the short hearing, where the judge scheduled his next appearance, on April 6, before US District Judge Kevin Castel.
According to the prosecution, Thompson used fake email accounts with his ex-girlfriend’s name to send the bomb threats. It was part of his months-long harassment campaign against the ex-girlfriend which started after she had dumped him last July.
Thompson, who was fired from his job as reporter for the Intercept news website last year for publishing fake news, said in a telephone interview from the Warren County jail in Missouri: “Make no mistake: this is a modern-day lynching, the allegations are false.”