A man from Rossmoor was arrested and charged in connection with threatening messages sent to Merriam-Webster targeting the website’s definitions regarding gender.
Jeremy David Hanson, 34, was arrested on Tuesday, April 20, and appeared in federal court on California on Friday. Hanson was released under the condition that he will appear in federal court in Springfield, Mass., where one of Merriam-Webster’s offices are located, later this month.
Between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8, Hanson sent multiple threatening messages through the website’s “Contact Us” and under the definition entries for “Girl,” “Woman,” and “female,” investigators alleged in the criminal complaint. The company closed its offices in Springfield and New York City for about five days in response to the threats.
One of the comments said “You [sic] headquarters should be shot up and bombed. It is sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science tranny [sic] agenda and altered the definition of ‘female’ as part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality. You evil Marxists should all be killed. It would be poetic justice to have someone storm your offices and shoot up the place, leaving none of you commies alive.”
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During the course of the investigation, other related threats to numerous companies were identified, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Land O’ Lakes, Hasbro, Inc., IGN Entertainment, the President of the University of North Texas, two professors at Loyola Marymount University and a New York City rabbi.
If he is convicted, the charge of interstate transmission of communications to injure the person of another could result in a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.