Sick of bomb threats, judge locks man up
Published 10:09 pm Thursday, July 26, 2007
When Joseph Lee Bernritter threatened to bomb the White House in an Internet chat room a year ago, somebody suggested the Gold Bar man should send him a postcard from jail.
Bernritter now will have that opportunity.
A Snohomish County Superior Court judge Wednesday sentenced Bernritter to nine months in the county jail.
Judge Gerald Knight also refused a request to let Bernritter serve his time on work release, partly because people are tired of bomb threats.
“I’m sick of it,” Knight said. “I’m fed up with it.”
Bernritter, 29, also will have to pay $600 in fines and fees.
He pleaded guilty in June to a felony count of making bomb threats. The nine-month sentence is in the middle of the sentencing range. Deputy prosecutor Halley Hupp and public defender Jon Ostlund both agreed to the recommendation.
In July 2006, other people in the chat room were discussing the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” and a television show about the cartoon character Charlie Brown, Hupp said. Bernritter suddenly wrote, “BOMB PRESIDENT” and “BOMB WHITEHOUSE,” Hupp said.
Then he followed it up by writing, “NO JOKE I WILL BOMB THE WHITE HOUSE.”
Federal Secret Service agents investigated and served a search warrant on Bernritter’s home in November. Agents found a list of ingredients for making military-grade explosives and books on nuclear missiles and weapons systems.
On his computer, agents found he had connected with links for bomb making, and had downloaded a handbook for terrorists.
Defense attorney Ostlund said Bernritter was going through marital separation at the time the threats were made, and also was stressed because he had been turned down from joining the military due to a physical ailment.
Bernritter apologized for what he did, and said all he wants to do is go to work and go home every day.
He’ll have to do the jail time first, the judge said.
“I think the message has to be sent clearly, unequivocally to people who make the threats,” Knight said. “It simply won’t be tolerated.”
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
