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Former St. Louis Journalist Gets 5-year Prison Sentence for Jewish Community Center Threats

Juan Thompson speaks at a 2015 Brooklyn Independent Media event.

The St. Louis man who says he used the internet to stalk his ex-girlfriend and send bomb threats to several Jewish community centers and schools across the country has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Juan Thompson was sentenced Wednesday in Judge Peter Kevin Castel’s Manhattan federal court. The Associated Press reports Castel referred to Thompson’s actions as “domestic terrorism.”

In February 2016, Thompson was fired from his job as a journalist at The Intercept, an online news publication, after it emerged he had fabricated key quotes from his stories.

Around this time, Thompson’s ex-girlfriend says, he began physically and verbally abusing her. In March 2017, he was arrested for antisemitic threats to a number of Jewish community centers and schools in her name. He subsequently pled guilty to these charges.

In his plea deal, Thompson agreed not to contest a prison sentence of up to four years. Since this sentence extends beyond that limit, he may have the opportunity to appeal.

Nathan Lawrence is an editor, documentary filmmaker and data journalist.