Anti-Jewish Bomb Threat Suspect Juan Thompson Was Disgraced Journalist
A suspect arrested in a series of bomb threats against Jewish community centers has been identified as a former reporter who fabricated quotes and invented sources for numerous stories.
The FBI arrested 31-year-old Juan Thompson, of St. Louis, in connection with at least eight threats against Jewish community centers as part of what federal prosecutors called a “campaign to harass and intimidate” a woman after a breakup.
Nearly 100 JCCs and schools have received bomb threats in five separate waves, most recently Monday — when 21 bomb threats were called in to 13 JCCs and eight Jewish schools in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.
It’s not clear whether investigators suspect Thompson in all of those.
Thompson complained last week on his Twitter feed that he was being investigated by the Secret Service and FBI for the bomb threats, which he blamed on a former romantic partner who he claimed was trying to frame him.
Thompson was revealed as a serial fabulist in February 2016 after The Intercept added editor’s notes to five of his prior stories, including a retraction of an article that included bogus quotes attributed to a cousin of white supremacist Dylann Roof.
Those claims were cited in other media reports afterward.That article quoted the nonexistent cousin, “Scott Roof,” who speculated the white supremacist had killed nine black churchgoers in South Carolina because a woman had rejected him for a black man.
Thompson worked as a Raw Story editor for two weeks prior to the revelations about his previous work at The Intercept.
He also previously worked for the Riverfront Times and DNAinfo Chicago.
