A 32-year-old Glynn County man accused of threatening to blow up an Internal Revenue Service office in New York has been indicted on federal charges, the Department of Justice announced Friday.
Benjamin Stasko of St. Simons Island is charged with willful threat to kill using firearms or explosives and interstate transmission of a threat to injure, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted of all charges.
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“Threats against the safety and security of our nation’s government offices and their personnel are deadly serious, and our office will work with our law enforcement partners to find and prevent such perpetrators from carrying out their threats,” U.S. Attorney Bobby Christine said in a statement.
The charges stem from a threat made in a comment posted July 6 on the IRS website. According to the Justice Department, the threat claimed a pipe bomb was planted in the Ted Weiss Federal Building in New York. After sweeping the building, investigators determined the threat was unfounded.
Investigators later located Stasko in St. Simons Island and placed him under arrest.