Politics

/

ArcaMax

Anchorage man arrested on charges he threatened to kill 6 US Supreme Court justices

Tess Williams, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska on

Published in Political News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A 76-year-old Anchorage man was arrested this week on federal charges accusing him of threatening to kidnap and kill six U.S. Supreme Court Justices and their relatives in scores of messages beginning last year.

Panos Anastasiou was arrested Wednesday at his Spenard home on 22 charges tied to more than 465 messages sent through the Supreme Court's public website that "contained violent, racist and homophobic rhetoric coupled with threats of assassination by torture, hanging and firearms," according to a memorandum seeking his detention filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney William Taylor.

The memo said the messages escalated in early January.

A sign hanging above the door of a tidy, single-story Spenard home listed in municipal records as belonging to Anastasious on Thursday morning featured an image of a gun and said "I don't call 911." Another sign identified the occupant as a veteran and said "My oath never expires."

In posts to his Facebook page in 2014, Anastasiou said he regretted his military service to the "POLICE STATE" the country has become "in large part by the rulings by the Supreme Court favoring police tactics and shredding the fourth amendment."

Anastasiou began sending concerning messages through the online portal to the Supreme Court in the spring of 2023, according to the federal memorandum filed this week. Supreme Court police reviewed the messages and contacted FBI agents in Anchorage, it said.

After the agents contacted Anastasiou in Alaska, he sent another message to the Supreme Court referencing the interview and "'daring' the Justices to personally visit his house," the memorandum said.

The messages continued and became increasingly violent in early 2024, it said.

Several messages included in the memorandum contained racial slurs, homophobic rhetoric and violent threats with descriptions of assassination by hanging, torture and shooting. He called for "mass assassinations" in one of the messages and encouraged others to participate in violence against the Supreme Court justices and their family members.

Anastasiou describes himself in the messages as a Vietnam War veteran.

He admitted sending threatening messages to the Supreme Court justices this year, the email address he used to send them contained his name, and investigators tracked the IP information included with the messages to his Anchorage home, the memorandum said.

 

Documents filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage do not specify which Supreme Court justices Anastasiou targeted. The current court is divided 6-3 ideologically, with six judges considered more conservative and three considered more liberal.

Anastasiou is registered as a nonpartisan voter but has donated nearly $800 since 2016 to ActBlue, a nonprofit fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and progressive causes, according to campaign contributions reported to the Federal Election Commission.

The memorandum said he previously sent similar threats to a governor of another state. It did not include specifics about those threats, including which governor or when.

Reagan Zimmerman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alaska, on Thursday said she was not able to provide information about those threats. There do not appear to be any criminal charges tied to Anastasiou in that incident.

He was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday and arrested Wednesday, according to court records. Anastasiou appeared in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was assigned a federal public defender and is scheduled to appear again Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown Anchorage for a detention hearing.

Defense attorney Jane Imholte declined to comment, and publicly listed phone numbers for Anastasiou were disconnected, according to reporting by The Associated Press.

He remained in custody at the Anchorage Correctional Complex on Thursday morning.

Threats targeting federal judges overall have more than doubled in recent years amid a surge of similar violent messages directed at public officials around the country, the Associated Press has reported. In 2022, a man with a gun and a knife was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh following the leak of a draft court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.

A Delta Junction man was sentenced to 32 months in prison and a $5,000 fine after pleading guilty to federal charges he threatened to murder U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.


(c)2024 the Alaska Dispatch News (Anchorage, Alaska) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

 

Related Channels

ACLU

ACLU

By The ACLU
Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman

By Amy Goodman
Armstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams

By Armstrong Williams
Austin Bay

Austin Bay

By Austin Bay
Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro

By Ben Shapiro
Betsy McCaughey

Betsy McCaughey

By Betsy McCaughey
Bill Press

Bill Press

By Bill Press
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp
Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas

By Cal Thomas
Christine Flowers

Christine Flowers

By Christine Flowers
Clarence Page

Clarence Page

By Clarence Page
Danny Tyree

Danny Tyree

By Danny Tyree
David Harsanyi

David Harsanyi

By David Harsanyi
Debra Saunders

Debra Saunders

By Debra Saunders
Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager

By Dennis Prager
Dick Polman

Dick Polman

By Dick Polman
Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson

By Erick Erickson
Froma Harrop

Froma Harrop

By Froma Harrop
Jacob Sullum

Jacob Sullum

By Jacob Sullum
Jamie Stiehm

Jamie Stiehm

By Jamie Stiehm
Jeff Robbins

Jeff Robbins

By Jeff Robbins
Jessica Johnson

Jessica Johnson

By Jessica Johnson
Jim Hightower

Jim Hightower

By Jim Hightower
Joe Conason

Joe Conason

By Joe Conason
Joe Guzzardi

Joe Guzzardi

By Joe Guzzardi
John Micek

John Micek

By John Micek
John Stossel

John Stossel

By John Stossel
Josh Hammer

Josh Hammer

By Josh Hammer
Judge Andrew Napolitano

Judge Andrew Napolitano

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
Laura Hollis

Laura Hollis

By Laura Hollis
Marc Munroe Dion

Marc Munroe Dion

By Marc Munroe Dion
Michael Barone

Michael Barone

By Michael Barone
Michael Reagan

Michael Reagan

By Michael Reagan
Mona Charen

Mona Charen

By Mona Charen
Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

By Oliver North and David L. Goetsch
R. Emmett Tyrrell

R. Emmett Tyrrell

By R. Emmett Tyrrell
Rachel Marsden

Rachel Marsden

By Rachel Marsden
Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry

By Rich Lowry
Robert B. Reich

Robert B. Reich

By Robert B. Reich
Ruben Navarrett Jr

Ruben Navarrett Jr

By Ruben Navarrett Jr.
Ruth Marcus

Ruth Marcus

By Ruth Marcus
S.E. Cupp

S.E. Cupp

By S.E. Cupp
Salena Zito

Salena Zito

By Salena Zito
Star Parker

Star Parker

By Star Parker
Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore

By Stephen Moore
Susan Estrich

Susan Estrich

By Susan Estrich
Ted Rall

Ted Rall

By Ted Rall
Terence P. Jeffrey

Terence P. Jeffrey

By Terence P. Jeffrey
Tim Graham

Tim Graham

By Tim Graham
Tom Purcell

Tom Purcell

By Tom Purcell
Veronique de Rugy

Veronique de Rugy

By Veronique de Rugy
Victor Joecks

Victor Joecks

By Victor Joecks
Wayne Allyn Root

Wayne Allyn Root

By Wayne Allyn Root

Comics

Kevin Siers Daryl Cagle Bart van Leeuwen Darrin Bell David Horsey Dana Summers