A South Carolina woman has been sentenced after pleading guilty to sending threats to kill a Catskill man. Kristin Keeble, 54, from Pageland, will serve 5 months in jail followed by a 3-year supervised release that includes 6 months of home detention. The sentence was handed down for transmitting a threat to injure another in interstate commerce, a charge that came to light following an investigation by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York announced.
The conviction stems from actions that took place on October 26, 2023, when Keeble sent four threatening audio messages via Facebook Messenger. According to a statement by Acting United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III, these messages were not only laced with profanities but were also racially derogatory. Keeble's threats were explicit and chilling – promising to harm the victim, a Black man, a woman he knew, and her children, invoking violence by hanging and channels of intimidation historically associated with the Ku Klux Klan, Keble's familiarity with the victim's race stemmed from his Facebook profile photo.
In a public release the U.S. Attorney's Office provided statements from officials involved in the case. Sarcone emphasized the seriousness of the offense, saying, "No one should ever receive despicable, hateful threats like this. Those who threaten people over the Internet are going to be prosecuted and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law." FBI Special Agent in Charge Craig L. Tremaroli echoed this sentiment, declaring, "No individual should live in fear because of someone’s intolerance and hatred."
The message from both the U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI is clear, internet threats motivated by hate will attract serious consequences. "Threats of violence, especially borne from hate, will never be tolerated and the FBI remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners hold the perpetrators accountable for their disturbing actions and bring justice to the victims," Tremaroli stated. The investigation was a collaborative effort, involving both federal and local resources to address what appears as an act not merely of personal malice, but as a part of a larger, more pernicious issue of racially-motivated violence in the United States, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Wentworth-Ping who prosecuted the case reinforced that the justice system has mechanisms to confront such threats.
