Croton Man Arrested for Bomb Threats
Bomb threats are not the way to generate publicity for an upcoming book talk.
Mark Lee Krangle, a 65-year-old Croton resident, was arrested last week at Pittsburgh International Airport for allegedly threatening University of Pittsburgh professors via email, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Krangle was charged on Thursday, April 19 with harassment and making terroristic threats after four current and former professors informed authorities that the University of Pittsburgh alum had sent them pdf copies of his book, the published report stated. In the emails it is alleged that Krangle stated that he intended to get his book noticed in Pittsburgh and that the bomb threats were an attempt to support his cause.
Krangle’s self-published book, “Revolution or Extinction,” is allegedly exposing a cover-up in the Carter Administration.
On the website Authonomy.com the book’s description reads: True story about New York Mafia child grown up and inserted into the Jimmy Carter presidential campaign while teaching at the University of Pittsburgh. After decades of trying to get the story of Carter’s rigged election and scripted presidency out, a 1999 e-mail to ABC television centering on prior knowledge of the 9/11 attack landed the author in federal detention for three years.
The University of Pittsburgh has had more than 60 bomb threats since mid-February, according to university police.
Krangle has made public comments on his Facebook page about the bomb threats since April 3, but claimed he was not the responsible party for the threats.
“I believe the person behind the attacks wants to get a spotlight on the huge issues I have been working on for decades,” Krangle said on Facebook on April 7. “…I know why the attacks have been lodged against Pittsburgh and I am pretty sure the person behind the attacks is someone I have known.”
Krangle went on to say, “…I believe the threats are being made for the purpose of getting my story out about a corrupt Pittsburgh and say so in the earnest hope that getting the story out will stop the threats once and for all. I am not materially, conceptually or operationally involved in any aspect of the threats.”
Several hours after Krangle was arrested, the university received two more bomb threats.
Krangle has been charged for the threats in the emails, not for the bomb threats to the Pittsburgh campus.
No arrest has been made in the threats made directly to the university.
The university has offered a $50,000 reward for information on the perpetrator. The FBI and the Pittsburgh police are assisting in the investigation.
The Pittsburgh affiliated ABC television network reported that Criminal records show that Krangle was convicted in 2003 of threatening to kidnap. He served prison time and was ordered to undergo psychiatric therapy. The court documents from the case are sealed, according to ABC.
David J. Hickton, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, issued a statement stating that law enforcement officials have made “significant progress in the investigation into the bomb threats made against University of Pittsburgh facilities” and that officials are focusing on potential suspects.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.