The FBI has arrested a 31-year-old former Intercept reporter for some of the recent bomb threats to Jewish community centers around the US. He allegedly made the threats to harass a woman he once dated.
The Intercept said in a statement it was “horrified” to learn that its former reporter, Juan Thompson, was arrested in connection with bomb threats against the Anti-Defamantion League and several JCCs as well as cyberstalking. Thompson worked for the Intercept from November 2014 to January 2016. He was fired a year ago after editors discovered he’d been fabricating quotes and inventing sources for stories.
He was arrested in St. Louis, Missouri, today. “We have charged Juan Thompson with allegedly stalking a former romantic interest by, among other things, making bomb threats in her name to Jewish Community Centers and to the Anti-Defamation League,” US district attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. Thompson’s “former romantic interest” is a woman in New York City.
Bharara and other New York-based law enforcement authorities headed the investigation that led to Thompson’s arrest. They charged that he’s responsible for a bomb threat to the ADL’s New York office on Feb. 22 and at least eight of the bomb threats to Jewish organizations. Dozens of threats against Jewish institutions and organizations have taken place in the last two months. No bombs have been found at any of the locations.