For Immediate Release

June 15, 1999
      MAN SENTENCED FOR THREATENING FEDERAL JUDGES BY INTERNET E-MAIL     Katrina C. Pflaumer, United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, announced that CARL EDWARD JOHNSON, 49, of Bienfait, Saskatchewan, Canada, was sentenced on Friday, June 11, 1999, to Thirty-Seven Months of Imprisonment on four felony counts of sending threatening e-mail messages via the Internet to federal judges and others.  The convictions were obtained following a seven-day trial in April before United States District Judge Robert J. Bryan, in Tacoma, Washington.  JOHNSON was convicted of one count of Retaliating Against a Judicial Officer, one count of Obstructing Justice by Making a Death Threat Against a Judicial Officer, and two counts of Transmitting Threatening Communications in Foreign Commerce.  The first three charges were based on death threats posted to the Internet naming two federal judges based in Tacoma and Seattle.  The fourth charge was based on an e-mail threat sent directly to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.  JOHNSON was acquitted on one count of Obstructing Justice.

The conviction and sentence are the culmination of a two-year investigation by U.S. Treasury agents into anonymous threats posted on the Internet and a scheme to assassinate government officials known as "Assassination Politics."  As the testimony and evidence at trial showed, the assassination scheme was first promoted by James Dalton Bell, of Vancouver, Washington, who had proposed to murder government employees, had gathered a list of IRS agents' names and home addresses, had contaminated an IRS office with a noxious chemical, and had experimented with other toxic and dangerous chemicals, including nerve agents.  JOHNSON had corresponded with Bell about Bell’s "Assassination Politics" concept via Internet e-mail.  After Bell’s arrest, JOHNSON vowed in an Internet e-mail message to take "personal action" in support of Bell.  On June 23, 1997, JOHNSON anonymously posted a message on the Internet suggesting that specific sums of money would be paid, in the form of electronic cash, for the deaths of a Federal Magistrate Judge in Tacoma, Washington, and Treasury agents involved in the Bell investigation.  Additional threatening messages linked to JOHNSON continued to appear on the Internet in the months that followed, and JOHNSON set up a World Wide Web page with a partial prototype of the "Assassination Politics" scheme.

JOHNSON also issued a death threat to several Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, again through an anonymous e-mail message.  The Government was able to identify JOHNSON as the author of the threatening messages and the Internet assassination web page through a variety of technical means.  In the case of the Ninth Circuit Judges death threat, Treasury agents were able to link the unique characteristics of an encrypted digital signature on the threatening message to encryption "keys" found on JOHNSON's computer.
 
Treasury investigators received valuable assistance from Canadian law enforcement agencies.  The trial featured testimony from officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Customs, as well as the Canadian Internet Service Provider Sympatico and Canadian telephone company Sasktel.  Computer experts from the Treasury Department and Portland Police Bureau also testified.
 
The retaliation and threatening communication counts each carried a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison.  The obstruction of justice count carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
 
The case was investigated by the United States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.  In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney Pflaumer credited the outstanding investigative work of Special Agent Jeffrey Gordon, particularly for his technical work in proving the identity of the threats’ author.  U.S. Attorney Pflaumer also expressed appreciation for the assistance of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, United States Secret Service, Portland Police Bureau, and Canadian Customs.
 
Assistant United States Attorneys Robb London and Floyd G. Short prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact Robb London or Floyd G. Short at (206) 553-7970, or Harold Malkin, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, at (206) 553-6526.
 

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