A 63-year-old Waipahu man in the midst of a divorce was arrested Tuesday by FBI agents after he allegedly threatened to bomb the 3rd District Courthouse in Salt Lake City, the mayor’s office, the state Capitol, every Ivy League school and the federal courthouse in San Diego, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bryan Melvin Brandenburg made his initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Honolulu after being charged by criminal complaint with “transmitting threats to injure another person and false threats to kill, injure and intimidate an individual, and to damage and destroy a building and other real property, by means of an explosive,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Wes Reber Porter ordered Brandenburg detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for Friday. FBI agents Monday arrested Brandenburg at his Kupuna Loop home.
Brandenburg, whose divorce is pending in Utah, was in Hawaii on May 4 and emailed staff at the 3rd District Courthouse in Salt Lake City threatening to blow up government buildings in the city.
Journalists who previously interviewed Brandenburg, including a morning show anchor, a reporter at the Salt Lake Tribune and an editor at UtahInDepth, also received email communications from Brandenburg on May 4 and 6 threatening to bomb the Salt Lake City courthouse, the Hall Laboratories at the University of Utah and the University of Utah Center for Medical Innovation.
FBI agents assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force- Pacific, which investigates national security matters, including international and domestic terrorism, ran the investigation.
“This arrest confirms the FBI’s commitment in investigating threats of violence by means of an explosive to the fullest extent of the law,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill. “Whether you threaten someone in Hawaii or elsewhere, the FBI will do whatever is necessary to protect the public to ensure their safety. We ask the public to be vigilant and report things that may seem suspicious or threatening to the FBI to (808) 566-4300 or tips.fbi.gov.”
On May 3, Brandenburg allegedly emailed Utah court clerks from Hawaii after what he believed to be a delay in his “nightmare” divorce proceedings, according to federal court documents.
“Your broken promise of a ruling in 60 days will not be tolerated children.” wrote Brandenburg. “So go f__ yourself.All of you. “I guess I’ll just have to bomb the city,” followed by an upward eye-roll emoji.
Brandenburg’s threats escalated quickly, according to court documents, and his list of potential targets expanded.
On May 4 he sent a series of emails over a more than 90 minute span from his Gmail account to two Utah court employees, threatening to blow up schools, government buildings, places of worship and businesses.
According to a May 20 criminal complaint Brandenburg wrote to the clerks;
6:59 a.m. — “Thanks for finally sending my Divorce decision. Y ou can still f___ the f__ off.”
7:08 a.m. — “We’re still going to bomb the 3rd District Courthouse. Hae a nice day.”
7:26 a.m. — “Now we’re going to bomb the State Capital….”
7:28 a.m. — “And then…. We’ll bomb the mayor’s office…”
7:34 a.m. — “And then, we’re going to level the sacred temple…”
7:37 a.m. — “And then…. We’ll level the Rockefeller Center in NYC…”
8:00 a.m. — “And NOW… WE’RE BOMBING EVERY IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL, ST ARTING WITH MIT, Y ALE, AND HAAARRRVVVVARDDDD…”
8:38 a.m. — “We’re bombing the Federal Courthouse in San Diego to teach them a lesson…”
Brandenburg is charged with one count of transmitting in interstate a communication containing a threat to injure the person of another and one count of conveying false threats through interstate commerce to kill, injure, or intimidate an individual or damage or destroy a building or other real property by means of an explosive. If convicted on those charges, Brandenburg faces up to five years in federal prison on the count threatening injury and ten years the six false bomb threat charge, according to the justice department.
“Sending threats to kill people or destroy property is a serious matter that we will investigate and prosecute,” said Clare E. Connors, U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii. “It does not matter if the threats are false or made to people and places outside of Hawaii. This conduct causes harm and is unlawful.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren Ching is prosecuting the case for the government.
