Feds: Rhode Island Man Threatened to Eat a Pro-Choice Professor in Massachusetts
“I will rip every limb from your body and eat it, piece by piece," Matthew Haviland, 30, allegedly wrote in a series of violent messages.
Department of Homeland Security outside the Moakley Federal Courthouse. AP file photo by Charles Krupa
A Rhode Island man who sent dozens of violent messages to a Massachusetts college professor, including threats to eat the prof alive, was arrested Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney says.
Officials say 30-year-old Matthew Haviland, of North Kingstown, is charged with cyberstalking and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, for which he faces up to five years in prison. He was due in federal court at 3 p.m.
Messages made public by the U.S. Attorney’s office and an affidavit suggest Haviland was enraged by the professor’s pro-choice stance on abortion, and made that known with a series of graphic and disturbing threats.
A sampling of his emails to the professor, who was not named:
“I will rip every limb from your body and eat it, piece by piece.”
“I will bite through your eyeballs while you’re still alive, and I will laugh while you scream.”
“You will be held accountable for every [expletive] baby you murdered through your horrible deception of they are not humans,”
“You will have your face ripped off and eaten by me, personally. I will enjoy raping your body after you’re dead. And that will only be the start.”
“I will kill every Democrat in the world so we never more have to have our babies brutally murdered by you absolute terrorists.”
“I will enjoy ripping the skin from your bodies piece by piece while you scream in agony.”
And some more he sent to the professional school at the professor’s college, which also was not named:
“[Expletive], my existence is not a blight on society. Yours is, for pushing the idea that if you are able-bodied or white or okay WITH THE [EXPLETIVE] GENDER YOU WERE BORN WITH, you are a bad person. You people are Evil, putrid, and somebody shoudl [sic] BOMB your school for spreading the idea that it’s okay to HATE people because of their race.”
“You should be Murdered in cold blood.”
He is also alleged to have left 114 voice messages at a “women’s medical center,” and sent this disturbing text to a friend: “It never was a Woman’s rights issue. It’s literally killing babies. That’s All it is, and We want you to stop it. Or we will kill you to do it. It’s that Serious. It’s not a Joke.”
And he allegedly wrote this on Medium: “You guys are so evil and so brainwashed, I would kill every one of you with my bare hands—or AT LEAST kill every abortion doctor.”
Which prompted an investigation that involved the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
“Simply put, words matter, and today’s arrest of Matthew Haviland should serve as a warning to others who think they can use the internet to terrorize people. Don’t do it,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. “Everyone has the right to express their opinion, but when you threaten, harass, intimidate, and put others in fear for their lives, it’s a federal crime.”
