California man convicted of threatening to ‘unabomb’ FBI offices

LOS ANGELES – A San Fernando Valley man was found guilty Wednesday of sending a series of threatening emails to the FBI, including ones in which he threatened to bomb the bureau’s Westwood office and referenced the notorious “Unabomber.”

Mark William Anten, 52, of Sun Valley, was convicted of two federal counts of threats by interstate communication. He has been in federal custody since December.

According to evidence presented at a three-day trial in downtown Los Angeles, from July to December, Anten sent a series of increasingly threatening communications to the FBI, culminating in two threats to bomb the FBI field office in Westwood.

“Even after being warned, Mr. Anten double-downed on his threats to murder FBI employees,” said Krysti Hawkins, the acting assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI will not tolerate credible death threats to individuals or institutions and, as evidenced during the trial, neither did the jury.”

US District Judge Wesley L. Hsu scheduled a Sept. 13 sentencing hearing, at which time Anten will face up to five years in federal prison for each count, according to the US Attorney’s Office.

Evidence showed that on Nov. 2, Anten emailed FBI agents saying he was voted most likely in his graduating class to become the next Unabomber – a reference to Theodore Kaczynski, whose 20-year bombing campaign killed three people and injured nearly two dozen more. Kaczynski was convicted of federal crimes, spent the bulk of his prison sentence in the SuperMax federal prison in Colorado, and died in prison in June 2023.

In the Nov. 2 email, Anten listed similarities between himself and Kaczynski, proclaimed that he was working on a manifesto, and signed his email “Unabomber.”

On Nov. 20, two FBI agents interviewed Anten in front of his residence. During the interview, Anten admitted to sending the previous communications and the officers admonished him to stop contacting agents, evidence showed.

Despite the admonition, Anten’s conduct escalated. On Dec. 5, Anten sent a string of threatening emails to FBI agents, in which he threatened to “Unabomb” the FBI’s Los Angeles office, according to the evidence. In one email sent on Dec. 6, Anten emailed agents, “I can go on a mass murder spree. In fact, it would be very explainable by your actions” and signed it, “SuperMax or Death.” Prosecutors said he also sent an email that included an image depicting the results of a Google internet search for “how to make a dirty bomb.”

Later on Dec. 6, Anten visited the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and later emailed agents that he visited their building and would continue to do so. Surveillance footage confirmed Anten’s presence there, according to federal prosecutors. (CNS)