Beverly man sentenced for sending threatening letters he said contained anthrax, AIDS-infected blood to CEO of OkCupid
"I can go on like this for years," he wrote. "How long can you last?"
A Beverly man was sentenced to probation Thursday for sending a series of threatening letters to the CEO of the dating website OkCupid, according to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office.
One letter allegedly contained a powder that Liam MacLeod, 47, said was anthrax, and another contained a red liquid that he said was blood infected with the AIDS virus.
Testing confirmed that the substances MacLeod sent were not hazardous, despite his claims.
MacLeod pleaded guilty in June to two counts of mailing threatening communications and two counts of conveying false information concerning purported biological weapons.
He mailed one of the envelopes in September 2017 to the Ariel Charytan in Dallas. It contained the suspicious white powder and a letter that read:
Greetings from Beverly
Ban me will ya
Welcome to the wonderful world of ANTHRAX
Expect a package within the next couple of days
It won’t be ticking but it should be interesting!
A typewritten letter that arrived a few days later read, in part:
How’d you like what I sent you? Aww, go take a powder. Oh, the things I have in store for you! I can go on like this for years. How long can you last?
Incidentally, my father was an angel: That’s Hell’s
Angel to you. You see, we have some pull. Take for
example your vehicles. We now know who owns
what, and where each of you parks his.
Hmm, think of the possibilities!
MacLeod then mailed a letter with a blank piece of paper stained with a red substance consistent with blood, officials said. The next day, a letter arrived saying the red substance was AIDS-infected blood.
Over the next few months, MacLeod mailed five other envelopes to the CEO. Each to them contained threats or suspicious substances.
MacLeod mailed a total of nine threatening letters to Charytan. He was sentenced to two years of probation. His first two months will be served in a halfway house, and the next eight in a sober house on home confinement.
