A San Fernando Valley man was arrested Dec. 21 on a federal criminal complaint alleging he sent a series of threatening emails to the FBI, including ones in which he threatened to bomb the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and referenced the notorious “Unabomber.”
Mark William Anten, 52, of Sun Valley, is charged with making threats by interstate communication, a felony offense that carries a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
FBI agents arrested Anten without incident that morning at his residence. A federal magistrate judge ordered Anten jailed without bond and scheduled an arraignment for Jan. 11, 2024, in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, since July 2023, Anten has sent numerous threatening communications to the FBI, including emails that reference bombing the FBI’s LA Field Office in Westwood. Specifically, on Nov. 2, 2023, Anten allegedly emailed FBI agents saying he “embrace[d]” that he was voted most likely in his graduating class to become the next Unabomber – a reference to Theodore John 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 on June 10.
In the Nov. 2 email, Anten allegedly listed similarities between himself and Kaczynski, proclaimed that he was working on a manifesto and signed his email “Unabomber.”
On Nov. 20, two FBI Task Force Officers 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, the affidavit states. Despite the admonition, Anten’s conduct escalated.
On Dec. 5, Anten allegedly sent a string of threatening emails to FBI agents, in which he threatened to “Unabomb” the FBI’s LA Field Office. In one email sent on Dec. 6, Anten allegedly 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.” 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 LA Field Office and later emailed agents that he visited their building and would continue to do so. Surveillance footage confirmed Anten’s presence there.