An Alaska man has been indicted for sending hundreds of threatening messages against members of the US Supreme Court and their relatives, federal prosecutors in Anchorage announced.
In an indictment filed on Wednesday, prosecutors allege that Panos Anastasiou, 76, began sending over 450 messages in March 2023 intended for six of the justices, as well as two of their family members. In January 2024, those messages allegedly began “to convey threats of harm.”
“The messages contained violent, racist, and homophobic rhetoric coupled with threats of assassination via torture, hanging, and firearms, and encouraged others to participate in the acts of violence,” the indictment reads.
Prosecutors allege that some of the messages “were intended to intimidate” and retaliate against actions the justices had taken as part of their official duties on the court.
A magistrate judge has ordered that Anastasiou be temporarily detained, and a detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Prosecutors have argued in court papers that there’s a serious risk Anastasiou will flee “because he has a demonstrated history of disregard for the authority of federal courts and will be unlikely to obey court orders.” They also claim he “exposes a persistent and obsessive desire to cause harm to his victims and encourage others to harm the victims as well.”
According to a court filing, the US Supreme Court Police reviewed Anastasiou’s messages in the spring of 2023 and found them concerning enough to warrant an investigation. After FBI agents in Anchorage contacted Anastasiou about the messages, he allegedly sent another one referencing the interview “and ‘daring’ the Justices to personally visit his house.”
The filing seeking a detention hearing quotes a handful of the messages that Anastasiou allegedly sent, including a call for “mass assassinations” and for the justices to be tortured.
Security for federal judges has been a focus in recent years, as the judiciary has reported an uptick in threats. A California man is set to go to trial in June on charges of attempting to assassinate US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He was arrested outside the justice’s Maryland in home in 2022, after a draft opinion leaked ahead of the high court’s reversal of the national constitutional right to abortion set in Roe v. Wade.
The case is USA v. Anastasiou, Alaska Dist. Ct., No. 3:24-cr-00099, 9/18/24
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Publish date : 2024-09-19 02:20:00
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