A teen suspected of using Facebook to order a hit on a Brooklyn police commander turned himself in to cops Sunday night.
Jonathan Thompson, 19, made an online death threat against Deputy Inspector Joseph Gulotta following an exclusive Daily News report on the 73rd Precinct’s innovative crimefighting tactics, police sources said.
The precinct uses social media to track down guns and gangbangers in Brownsville, sources said.
Thompson’s menacing message, posted on the precinct’s Facebook page, even described Gulotta’s vehicle and his work schedule, sources said.
While cops feared the post might prompt a brazen criminal to try to murder Gulotta, it did not appear to generate much of an online stir, sources said.
Still, law enforcement officials didn’t leave anything to chance.
“A threat against a police officer is a threat against all of us,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.
Thompson turned himself in at the 73rd Precinct about 6:50 p.m. and was charged with making a terroristic threat and aggravated harassment.
While the teenage tough has 13 prior arrests, including menacing and disorderly conduct, Thompson’s lawyer, Phillip Lights, insisted that he placed no hit against Gulotta.
“He never made any threats against the Police Department,” said Lights. “He is innocent.”
Urban Community Council head Tony Herbert, who accompanied Thompson to the precinct, said that police traced the threat back to his Internet connection.
It was not immediately clear if he is a member of OccFam, an offshoot of the Crips street gang highlighted in The News’ exclusive, which revealed how cops under Gulotta’s command are confiscating more guns than officers in any other city precinct.
Cops assigned to the 73rd Precinct spend hours each week scouring Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites looking for pictures of weapons, threats against rivals and hints about gang activity.
Police snatched 199 guns off the streets in Brownsville last year — up from 156 in 2011, records show. It was the highest number of guns recovered in any precinct last year.
They had already grabbed 25 guns this year, according to crime data through Feb. 4 — more than double the count from the first six weeks of last year.
By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh AND Simone Weichselbaum / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
No comments:
Post a Comment