BAYPORT, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — A Central Islip federal court sentenced a 74-year-old man from Bayport New York to two-and-a-half years in prison for mailing more than 60 death threats to LGBTQ+ affiliated people, groups and businesses, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
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From at least 2013 to 2021, Robert Fehring threatened to kill, shoot or bomb people and groups he associated with the LGBTQ+ community.
When the FBI Civil Rights Squad and New York Joint Terrorism Task Force raided his home on Nov. 18, 2021, they found guns, ammunition, copies of threatening letters, 20 stolen Pride flags, “reconnaissance-style” pictures from a Pride event, and an envelope addressed to a gay attorney containing a dead bird.
His messages reveal a violent obsession with homosexuality and sometimes included racist attacks as well.
In a letter to a Black-owned queer barbershop, he threatened “your shop is the perfect place for a bombing… or beating the scum that frequents your den of [expletive] into a bloody pool of steaming flesh.” It was signed “People Who Hates Gays… and In Particular [N-Word] Gays.”
A letter to the Stonewall Inn, the famous location of the Stonewall Riots that led to a new era of LGBTQ+ activism in the U.S., threatened to “blow up/burn your establishments down.”
“We will shoot those who frequent your dens of [expletives],” it continued.
Other targets included an LGBTQ+ event in Huntington, a beach club that had hosted a gay event and the ferry from Sayville to Fire Island — a vacation spot known as an LGBTQ+ haven.
“There is no room for hate in the Eastern District of New York,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. “Today’s sentence makes clear that threats to kill and commit acts of violence against the LGBTQ+ community will be met with significant punishment.”
Editor’s note: Words replaced with “[expletive]” were fully redacted by the Department of Justice. It’s therefore unclear which slur was used.
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