Norwegian Citizen Sentenced to 15 months for Making Threatening Interstate Communications

Contact: Michael J. Conley
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257

Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Espen Brungodt, 29, of Norway, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby to 15 months in prison for making threatening interstate communications. He pled guilty on September 26, 2016.

According to court records, on August 3, 2016, Brungodt sent an email to the Portland Police Department in which he threatened to kill police officers. The email read

Time for more police to die. We are getting our Sig Sauer MCX .223-caliber rifles ready, and very soon, my partners will head down to Portland Police Department on 109 Middle St. There they will shoot and kill as many police officers as they can. Meanwhile, I will get into position at the top of Cumberland County Parking Garage on 188 Newbury St. I have booby trapped the garage with explosives, so don't go there. Time to take action. More dead cops.

Brungodt sent the threatening email from his Portland hotel room, where he was located and arrested a few hours later. 

In pronouncing sentence, Judge Hornby praised the response of the Portland Police Department to Brungodt’s threat and noted that the email constituted a “brutal threat of violence and death that resulted in complete disruption of public services and instilled public fear.”  Judge Hornby also noted that the offense was a consequence of Brungodt’s well-documented mental health history and took into consideration his lack of criminal history.  

As part of a plea agreement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has agreed to support any request by the defendant to transfer his sentence under to the International Prisoner Transfer Agreement that exists between the United States and the Kingdom of Norway.

Upon completion of his sentence, Brungodt will be removed from the United States and will be denied re-entry in the future.
           
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Portland Police Department.