Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)
LOS ANGELES – A San Fernando Valley man was found guilty by a jury today of sending threatening emails to the FBI, including ones in which he threatened to bomb the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and referenced the notorious “Unabomber.”
Mark William Anten, 52, of Sun Valley, was found guilty of two counts of threats by interstate communication. He has been in federal custody since December 2023.
According to evidence presented at a three-day trial, from July 2023 to December 2023, Anten sent a series of increasingly threatening communications to the FBI, culminating in two threats to bomb the FBI field office in Westwood.
“Law enforcement officers put their lives on the line to keep our community safe and therefore deserve our thanks and respect,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “Those who threaten the FBI and other law enforcement officers ignore the daily sacrifices these officers make to protect us and undermine the rule of law. We will continue to stand with our law enforcement partners.”
“Even after being warned, Mr. Anten double-downed on his threats to murder FBI employees,” said Krysti Hawkins, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI will not tolerate credible death threats to individuals or institutions and, as evidenced during the trial, neither did the jury.”
These emails included repeated references to Theodore John Kaczynski, a.k.a. “The Unabomber,” whose 20-year bombing campaign killed three people and injured nearly two dozen more. Kaczynski was convicted of federal crimes, spent the bulk of his prison sentence in the Supermax federal prison in Colorado and died in a different federal prison last year.
On November 20, 2023, two FBI task force officers interviewed Anten in front of his residence. During the interview, Anten admitted to sending the previous communications and the officers admonished him to stop contacting agents, the affidavit states. Despite the admonition, Anten’s conduct escalated.
On December 5, 2023, Anten sent to FBI agents an email in which he wrote, “I AM THE UNABOMBER” and “I WILL UNABOMB THE LOS ANGELES FBI HQ.”
The next day, Anten wrote to FBI agents, “I can go on a mass murder spree. In fact it would be very explainable by your actions.” He concluded the email with, “[y]ou ain’t getting away with this one,” and signed the email, “SuperMax or Death.”
Anten also sent FBI agents an email, which attached a photograph depicting the results of an internet search for “how to make a dirty bomb.”
Later that day, Anten visited the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and later emailed agents that he visited their building and would continue to do so. Surveillance footage confirmed Anten’s presence there.
United States District Judge Wesley L. Hsu scheduled a September 13 sentencing hearing, at which time Anten will face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.
The FBI investigated this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Clifford D. Mpare and Kedar S. Bhatia, both of the General Crimes Section, are prosecuting this case.