Old man who threatened violence at Pride is going to jail for a long time [View all]
A 74-year-old Long Island man has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for sending threatening letters to LGBTQ groups and the organizers of Pride events.
Since 2013, Robert Fehring, a retired teacher, sent 65 anonymous letters threatening to bomb events like Pride parades, shoot patrons of the Stonewall Inn, and burn the historic bar to the ground. He was arrested last December pleaded guilty to one count of mailing threatening communications in February as part of a deal with prosecutors.
“The defendant has a First Amendment right to hold bigoted beliefs; he does not have a right to threaten people based on his bigoted beliefs,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. “It is now time for the defendant to face the consequences of his hate-filled conduct.”
In December, FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll called Fehring’s threats “not only appalling, but dangerous, despite the fact that he hadn’t yet acted on his purported intentions.”
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