Man admits Internet hoax threatening stadiums

NEWARK, N.J. " A former Wisconsin grocery clerk pleaded guilty Thursday to making bogus Internet postings warning of terrorist attacks against NFL stadiums.

Jake J. Brahm admitted that he posted false information that so-called dirty bombs would be detonated at seven stadiums having games on Oct. 22, 2006.

Brahm had said the stadiums were in Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Oakland, Cleveland and New York City. He admitted that the reference to New York City was intended to indicate Giants Stadium, in East Rutherford, N.J., where the New York Jets played the Detroit Lions that day.

Brahm, 22, of Wauwatosa, Wis., pleaded guilty to a one-count indictment that had been handed up exactly a year earlier, charging him with willfully conveying false information that the stadiums would be attacked by terrorists with weapons of mass destruction and "radiological dispersal devices."

The charge is part of the Patriot Act.

Brahm admitted composing and posting the threat about 40 times on a Web site between September and Oct. 18, 2006.

The message said that bombs would be delivered by trucks and that "the death toll will approach 100,000 from the initial blasts and countless other fatalities will later occur as result from radioactive fallout."

The posting added that the stadium explosions would be praised by Osama bin Laden as "America's Hiroshima" and spark global conflicts.

Brahm remains free on bail and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when sentenced June 5 by U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares.

Brahm's lawyer, Walter A. Lesnevich, said that although the law is vague and may one day be repealed, they agreed to the plea because it gives Brahm a chance for probation or a prison term of only up to six months.

"He did not put it on a normal news Web site," Lesnevich said, and its original audience never took it seriously. However, "He did not think through the consequences" of what might happen when it spread around the Internet.

Brahm is now working in his father's wood shop, the lawyer said.

Authorities found him stocking milk in a grocery. "Everyone knew immediately it was not a threat. But they had to check it out," Lesnevich said.

Authorities said Brahm's actions wasted homeland security efforts.

"This was the Internet version of yelling fire in a crowded theater, but to a much wider audience," U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said in a statement.

"I don't think anyone needs to be reminded in this day and age how serious and dangerous such conduct is."

Brahm surrendered to U.S. marshals in Milwaukee on Oct. 20, 2006, after a federal criminal complaint and arrest warrant were issued.

The indictment was handed up Feb. 28, 2007, by a federal grand jury in Newark, where prosecutors handled the case.

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