Ex-Reporter Sentenced To Five Years In Prison for JCC Bomb Threats

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky

By Sam Kestenbaum December 22, 2017

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Juan Thompson, the former journalist who bombarded Jewish community centers with fake bomb threats in a revenge plot against an ex-girlfriend, was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison.

In a New York federal court, the judge called Thompson’s crimes “domestic terrorism,” the New York Post reported.

“This is domestic terror in the literal sense,” his one-time girlfriend Francesca Rossi said in court. “Juan devoted over an entire year to destroying my life,” she said, describing how Thompson made more than a dozen bomb threats in her name.

I can’t express the elation of today. My glorious client, Francesca Rossi, spoke the truth about her nightmare in a “#BelieveWomen” tshirt. And the judge did!! And sentenced Juan Thompson 14 months more than the guidelines recommended. pic.twitter.com/mtJ5V7q2Me

— Carrie A. Goldberg (@cagoldberglaw) December 21, 2017

Thompson was previously fired from the investigative website Intercept for fabricating quotes.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.