A 20-year-old Wisconsin grocery store worker was arrested today for posting to the Internet fake threats to detonate radioactive bombs at seven National Football League games this weekend.
Jake J. Brahm of Wauwatosa, Wis., is facing charges of willfully conveying false information threatening the use of weapons of mass destruction and radiological dispersal devices.
The charge carries a maximum five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.
“These types of hoaxes scare innocent people, cost business resources and waste valuable homeland security resources,” New Jersey U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said in a statement.
“We cannot tolerate this Internet version of yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater in the post 9/11 era.”
Brahm is charged in New Jersey, where Sunday’s game between the Detroit Lions and the New York Jets in East Rutherford is one of the games threatened by Brahm.
Other games Brahm said would be subject to attacks include stadiums in Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland and Cleveland.
Brahm was first taken into custody by local police in Wauwatosa on Wednesday after local police received information Brahm was the source of the Internet threats to set off dirty bombs.
The FBI was immediately notified and agents interviewed Brahm Wednesday evening.
According to the criminal complaint, Brahm admitted to FBI agents he posted the threatening messages to www.4chan.org in addition to posting the same message approximately 40 times on various other Internet sites.
Brahm told FBI agents he knew the messages were false when he authored and posted them.
In the messages, Brahm said the explosions would claim 100,000 lives from the “initial blasts and countless other fatalities will later occur as [a] result from radioactive fallout.”
Brahm said the Oct. 22 target date was timed to fall on the final day of Ramadan.
Brahm added in the threat, “The explosions would be lauded by Osama bin Laden, and the aftermath of the near simultaneous blasts would be civil wars around the globe. Global economies will screech to a halt. General chaos will rule.”
