Juan Thompson
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Juan M. Thompson (March 31, 1985 – September 7, 2024) was an American former journalist who was later convicted for
cyberstalking Cyberstalking is the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, group, or organization. It may include false accusations, defamation, slander and libel. It may also include monitoring, identity theft, thr ...
and making several bomb threats to
Jewish Community Center A Jewish Community Center or a Jewish Community Centre (JCC) is a general recreational, social, and fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities. JCCs promote Jewish culture and heritage through holiday celebrations, ...
s in the U.S.


Personal background

Thompson was a native of
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
. He attended
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...
in
Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Town of Poughkeepsie, New York (state), New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, New York, Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie i ...
, and was connected to the student newspaper. However, Thompson failed to graduate. He was a summer intern with DNAinfo Chicago and an intern for a
WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the tri-state region of the Chicago metropolitan area. It is owned by Chicago Public Media and is f ...
talk show for four months. In November 2016, Thompson announced plans to run for mayor of St. Louis, but failed to raise money in an online campaign, only raising $25 from a single donation.


Reporting scandal and termination from ''The Intercept''

Thompson was a staff reporter for ''
The Intercept ''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing nonprofit news organization that publishes articles and podcasts online. ''The Intercept'' has published in English since its founding in 2014, and in Portuguese since the 2016 launch of the Brazilia ...
'', but was fired in February 2016 for fabricating quotes and attributions in news articles. This included a false claim, purportedly made by a cousin of
Dylann Roof Dylann Storm Roof (born April 3, 1994) is an American mass murderer, white supremacist and neo-Nazi who perpetrated the Charleston church shooting. During a Bible study on June 17, 2015, at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charle ...
, that Roof was motivated to commit the
Charleston church shooting An Anti-Black racism, anti-black mass shooting and hate crime occurred on June 17, 2015, in Charleston, South Carolina. Nine people were killed, and one was injured, during a Bible study (Christianity), Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist ...
because a former love interest chose black men over Roof. A note from editor Betsy Reed indicated that Thompson had been fired recently after his editors discovered "a pattern of deception" in his reporting. According to Reed, he had "fabricated several quotes in his stories and created fake email accounts that he used to impersonate people, one of which was a
Gmail Gmail is the email service provided by Google. it had 1.5 billion active user (computing), users worldwide, making it the largest email service in the world. It also provides a webmail interface, accessible through a web browser, and is also ...
account in my name". The site's investigation into Thompson's reporting had found that he had, on multiple occasions, attributed quotes to people who said he had not interviewed them or did not remember him doing so, people whom they could not reach to verify the quote or whose identity could not be confirmed. In the retracted story, Roof's family said they did not know of a cousin whom Thompson had quoted as saying Roof's interest in
white supremacy White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
took off after a woman to whom he was attracted began dating a black man. He also used "quotes that we cannot verify from unnamed people whom he claimed to have encountered at public events". To prevent his fabrications from being discovered, she continued, he lied to editors about how he had gotten the quotes, and in one case created an email account in the name of one of his sources. When editors discovered his actions, she added, he stood by his published work and, while admitting to creating the email accounts, refused to assist in the review otherwise. In an email to Reed he shared with various news outlets, Thompson said he was being treated for
testicular cancer Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility. Risk factors include an c ...
and for that reason had not had access to his notes when the site had asked to review them. He explained his methods as "writing drafts of stories, placing the names of eopleI wanted to get quotes from in there, and then going to fetch the quotes ... If I couldn't obtain a quote from the person I wanted, I went somewhere else, and must've forgot to change the names—clearly." While he admitted this was "sloppy", he faulted ''The Intercept'' for lacking "a sustained and competent editor to guide me," alluding to the site's managerial turnovers. He also claimed that the greater problem was
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
in the media field, that he made up
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
s for some of his sources because they were "poor black people who didn't want their names in the public given the situations" and who would not have spoken with a reporter otherwise, and that he had felt a need to "exaggerate my personal shit in order to prove my worth" at ''The Intercept'' given incidents of racial bias he said he had witnessed there. When ''
Gawker ''Gawker'' was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month in 2015. Fo ...
'' published his email, Reed said those allegations had not been in the version he sent her. After the note was published, the site amended Thompson's online biography when an editor at a Chicago
public radio Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...
station said that while Thompson had indeed worked there, he had no involvement in the station's news reporting as he had claimed. His past tenure at
DNAinfo ''DNAinfo'' was an online newspaper that focused on neighborhood news in New York City and Chicago. It was closed down by CEO and owner Joe Ricketts in November 2017 after writers in its New York branch voted to unionize, a move to which Rickett ...
in Chicago, where one editor
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in response to the story that she could have seen it coming, was also edited out. He was fired by ''The Intercept'' in early 2016, and according to Reed, did not cooperate with the investigation of his actions.


Post-termination

Following his termination from ''The Intercept'', a reporter from ''
The Riverfront Times The ''Riverfront Times'' (''RFT'') was a free progressive weekly newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri, that consisted of local politics, music, arts, and dining news in the print edition, and daily updates to blogs and photo galleries on its website ...
'' documented Thompson's history of ethical breaches in his job. This reportedly prompted Thompson to harass the reporter. He first attempted to get him fired, then set up a series of fake
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
accounts in which he claimed the reporter was a rapist. The accounts were later shut down by investigators. On July 7, 2016, Thompson posted a 5,000-word essay in which he ranted against what he claimed to be " e white New York media" and claimed ''The Intercept'' had launched a racist smear campaign against him. In 2017, he had been working as communications director for the Gateway Housing Foundation a small, St. Louis-based,
non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
dedicated to helping the homeless. The Gateway Housing Foundation released a statement that Thompson had only worked there a short time and was released prior to his making bomb threats against Jewish Community Centers.


Cyberstalking and bomb threats

In 2016, after Thompson's girlfriend broke up with him, he began harassing her, including threats of
revenge porn Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent, with the punitive intention to create public humiliation or character assassination out of revenge against the victim. The material ma ...
, and making bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers as retaliation. According to officials, Thompson phoned in and emailed many of the threats under his ex-girlfriend's name in an effort to frame her. Thompson also made at least one threat under his own name, under the pretense that his ex-girlfriend was framing him. He had also emailed the Anti-Defamation League in his own name in late February 2017, pointing to his ex-girlfriend as the perpetrator of all of the bomb threats. Thompson was arrested in March 2017 by the FBI in St. Louis for allegedly making bomb threats against at least eight Jewish community centers. He was also charged with one count of cyberstalking. He was extradited to New York and appeared in Manhattan federal court on March 29, where his public defender declined to seek bail. On April 10, Thompson pleaded not guilty to the charge of cyberstalking. He was scheduled to reappear in court on May 18. On June 13, Thompson pleaded guilty to one count of cyberstalking and one count of sending bomb threats to Jewish community centers. In December 2017, he was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released from prison on December 28, 2023. In September 2024, he was found dead from a suspected drug overdose.


References


External links


Twitter''The Intercept'' page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Juan M. 1985 births 2024 deaths 21st-century American journalists Journalists from Missouri African-American writers Drug-related deaths in Missouri 21st-century American writers 21st-century American criminals American male criminals 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people The Intercept people People convicted of cybercrime People convicted of stalking Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government