Six Months Jail for Fake Giants Stadium Threat
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
NEWARK, N.J. — A former Wisconsin grocery clerk must serve six months in federal prison for making bogus Internet postings warning of terrorist attacks against NFL stadiums, a judge ruled today.
Federal Judge Jose Linares says Jake Brahm conducted a “sick” hoax. The judge also ordered him to repay $26,750 incurred in extra security costs at two of the stadiums.
The 22-year-old from Wauwatosa, Wis., says the postings were never meant to be taken seriously, but federal prosecutors argued he intended mischief.
Brahm pleaded guilty in February, admitting that he posted false information that so-called dirty bombs would be detonated at seven stadiums having games on October 22, 2006.
Brahm had said the stadiums were in Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland, Cleveland, and New York City. He admitted that the reference to New York City was intended to indicate Giants Stadium, at East Rutherford, N.J., where the New York Jets played the Detroit Lions that day.
The posting added that the stadium explosions would be praised by Osama bin Laden as “America’s Hiroshima” and spark global conflicts.
