Jodie Foster stalker arrested
2008-03-12 09:22
Jason Szep
Boston - A man who sent
Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster threatening letters for several
years was arrested on Tuesday on charges of mailing a bomb threat
to a Los Angeles airport.
Michael Smegal, 42, of Holliston, Massachusetts, was charged
in US District Court in Massachusetts with mailing a threatening
letter to Van Nuys Airport in early December.
The letter was one of more than 100 nearly identical letters
with references to Foster mailed to celebrities, business
executives, airports and other locations around Los Angeles from
September 2007 to January 2008, an affidavit said.
Foster, a two-time Oscar winner who won her first Academy
Award playing a rape victim in 1988's The Accused, received
anonymous letters from Massachusetts beginning in 2004.
In 2005,
Smegal admitted to police he had sent the letters and promised to
stop, the affidavit said.
If convicted, Smegal faces up to 10 years in prison followed
by three years of supervised release and a $250 000 fine.
- Reuters