UPDATE: Beverly man accused of threatening Trump Jr.
UPDATE: Beverly man accused of threatening Trump Jr.
BEVERLY — Police raided the home of a man accused of sending at least five letters containing threatening messages and “suspicious white powder” to Donald Trump Jr. and other elected officials, according to an FBI complaint.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force descended on 62 Hathaway Ave., in Beverly, where Daniel Frisiello lives with his parents, on Thursday morning.
FBI spokeswoman Kristen Setera described the raid as "court-authorized activity in connection with an ongoing federal investigation." She would not comment further.
According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Frisiello, 24, wrote in a letter to Trump Jr.: “You are an awful, awful person, I am surprised that you father lets you talk on TV. You make the family idiot, Eric, look smart. This is the reason why people hate you, so you are getting what you deserve.”
Testing of powder included in the five letters determined the material to be nonhazardous, according to the complaint.
Frisiello also sent a “glitter bomb” letter to a Stanford University professor, Michelle Dauber, who is working on a recall effort for a judge who’d sentenced an athlete accused of sexual assault, officials said.
Authorities said they aren’t sure what motivated Frisiello.
He faces five charges of a mailed threat to injure someone, and five charges of disseminating false information or a hoax. Officials said Frisiello was arrested on his way to work without incident.
“These kind of hoaxes might not cause physical harm, but they scare the heck out of people ,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling told reporters at a briefing Thursday morning at the U.S. District Court in Boston.
Frisiello’s neighbors said they heard a loud explosion, possibly at a power transformer on the street, at around 8 a.m., causing power on the street to go out.
About a minute later, at least four vehicles came down the street and went to 62 Hathaway, said Richard Faille, who lives across the street.
"I heard a big explosion and then these guys came rolling up," Faille said.
Neighbors said an FBI agent told them there was no threat to the area.
Faille said agents knocked on the door at 62 Hathaway and were let in by a resident. Several agents wearing protective vests and FBI JTTF jackets, as well as members of the FBI Evidence Response Team, were seen going in and out carrying bags and various items, including a laptop computer.
Frisiello will be arraigned later Thursday in U.S. District Court in Worcester.
This story will be updated. Check back at salemnews.com throughout the day.
UPDATE: Beverly man accused of threatening Trump Jr.
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March 01, 2018
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