THREATENING

DOJ: California Man Charged With Threatening to Kill Boston Globe Employees

Was allegedly angry over newspaper’s response to Trump’s attacks on the media.

A California man has been arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Boston Globe employees after the newspaper coordinated a series of editorials denouncing President Trump’s attacks on the media, the Justice Department said Thursday. Robert D. Chain, 68, of Encino, California, was charged with making threatening communications in interstate commerce. He allegedly made threatening calls to the Globe about 14 times between August 10 and 22. On Aug. 16, the day hundreds of newspapers published editorials promoting the freedom of the press in coordination with the Globe, Chain called to say he would shoot Globe employees in the head “later today, at 4 o’clock,” prosecutors said. According to the DOJ, Chain referred to the Globe as “the enemy of the people,” echoing Trump’s rhetoric. Chain will appear in court in Los Angeles Thursday and will later be transferred to Boston. He could spend up to five years in jail if he is convicted. “Everyone has a right to express their opinion, but threatening to kill people, takes it over the line and will not be tolerated,” said Harold H. Shaw, special agent with the FBI’s Boston division. “Today’s arrest of Robert Chain should serve a warning to others, that making threats is not a prank, it’s a federal crime.”