Jamaica Plain Man Arrested For Making Threats Through the Mail, Reports U.S. Attorney

10 December 2006

A Jamaica Plain man was arrested this morning on a federal criminal complaint charging him in connection with his allegedly sending threatening letters through the U.S. mail to officials at the Tufts-New England Medical Center.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Sharon E. Ormsby, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today that PATRICK K. O'NEIL, age 55, of 15 Arcola Street, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, was charged in a criminal complaint with transmitting in interstate commerce a communication containing a threat to injure the person of another.

According to the affidavit submitted in support of the complaint, multiple letters were sent, beginning in July of 2006, to high-ranking officials at the Tufts-New England Medical Center ("NEMC") by a person who appeared to be a security officer at NEMC. Altogether, six such letters were mailed to NEMC officials, including the Vice President of Human Resources, the Chief Executive Officer, and three to the Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Each letter demanded the firing of the Director of NEMC Security as well as a security firm ("Apollo Security") which provides services to NEMC. Repeatedly, copies of an Associated Press article, dated July 24, 2006, were included with the threatening letters. The article concerned the July 22, 2006 stabbing death of a restaurant manager by a disgruntled employee. Repeatedly, the writer of the threatening letters referenced the article and expressed understanding for how such a stabbing could occur and implied that the same could happen to the Director of Security if the recipients of the letters did not act according to the writer's demands.

According to the affidavit, O'NEIL was one of several NEMC employees who were interviewed during the FBI's investigation of the threats in September and October 2006. Following the first of two interviews by the FBI, O'Neil abruptly resigned from his job at NEMC on October 6, 2006.

On December 5, 2006, another letter of the same threatening nature was received by the NEMC Director of Security at his home. The letter was printed on the back of a copy of the Director's missing April 28, 2006, pay stub. The letter itself then described the Director's home in enough detail to indicate firsthand knowledge of the premises. The letter also warned of an impending additional trip to the town where the Director resides, stating, "Ain't no lock made I can't open."

O'NEIL will appear in federal court later this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy S. Hillman. If convicted, O'NEIL faces up to 5 years' imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul R. Moore in Sullivan's Major Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the complaint are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: prnewswire

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