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Mass. man sentenced for online threats to public figures, children, elementary school
A 37-year-old man from Wilbraham received more than two and half years in prison for threatening social media posts.
A Wilbraham man was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Springfield after making a series of violent threats on social media targeting public officials, private individuals — including children — and a local elementary school, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Funwayo Mbilini Nyawo, 37, was sentenced to 32 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to a statement from Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley’s office.
Nyawo, who also used the names “Jonathan Funwayo Nyawo,” “Michael Jacobs,” “Robert Jacobs,” and “Carl Field,” pleaded guilty in July 2025 to 13 counts of interstate transmission of threatening communications and one count of stalking using interstate commerce facilities, according to Foley’s office.
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According to charging documents, between July 30 and Oct. 1, 2024, Nyawo posted numerous threats on X and Google.
The posts targeted public officials and their families, private individuals, children in Wilbraham and Boston, members of the Wilbraham police and fire departments, and the Miami Police Department, as well as shopping malls in Holyoke and Burlington and a Springfield elementary school.
The threats, detailed in the charging documents, frequently referenced violence, including killing, shootings, and bombings, and in some cases included images.
In one post, Nyawo threatened children in Wilbraham and Boston and the families of first responders, writing: “time for your children to die … I’m going to kill their families next and make them watch before I kill them.” This post included an image depicting emaciated children, according to court documents.
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Other posts included threats to kidnap and kill the children of police officers.
“Blow up the Wilbraham Police Department,” one of the posts reads. “Kidnap and kill the officers children.”
At the bottom of that message, posted Aug. 1, 2024, states “Allahu Akbar,” an Islamic phrase translating to “God is the Greatest.”
Authorities said Nyawo also made posts encouraging followers of foreign terrorist organizations ISIS and Al Qaeda and Muslim holy warriors known as mujahadeen to commit acts of violence.
According to charging documents, in a series of posts Nov. 1-4, 2024, Nyawo wrote: “ISIS: Attack Boston again;” “Start killing g [sic] the children of the Miami Police ISIS;” and “Mujahideen from around the world: Go to boston. Shoot to kill. Preferably their children.”
Investigators said Nyawo showed a repeated fixation on children in his posts.
In a Sept. 27, 2024 post, Nyawo wrote, “Torch it. Kill the kids,” with a photograph of a Springfield elementary school, court documents show.
Authorities said that between Aug. 17 and Oct. 1, 2024, Nyawo used X to engage in a course of conduct intended to harass and intimidate an elected U.S. official and their extended family.
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