Another Lunatic Arrested After Stalking Jodie Foster
A man who sent threatening letters to Jodie Foster over several years was arrested yesterday for threatening to bomb the Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles.
Michael Smegal was charged with mailing the bomb threat to the airport last December. According to an affidavit filed in the case by an FBI agent, the threat was one of over 100 identical letters referencing Foster that he mailed to various businesses, airports, and celebrities (no word on which ones). Smegal said he chose airports because of his belief that they were connected to the Screen Actors Guild. (Oooookaaaaaayyyyyy....?)
Smegal had admitted, in 2005, that he was sending anonymous letters to Foster and promised to stop. One of the letters he'd sent her in 2004 contained a prepaid cell phone and a note asking her to use it to call a specific number. When law enforcement officials called that number, they got Smegal, who identified himself by name and then used the phone to send pictures of himself and his dog. (Again, ooooookaaaaaayyyyy....? This guy is clearly COMPLETELY unhinged.) They caught him this time because the DNA on the envelope containing the Van Nuys letter matched that collected from the letters he admitted sending to Foster back in 2004. (Good going, smartypants.)
So now he's looking at ten years in prison. Which... even for me (I'm a professed prison abolitionist in my other life) seems kind of short. I mean, maybe the guy doesn't belong in some Supermax prison for a decade, given he's pretty obviously not well, but I don't know if what he's got can be fixed. It seems to me like he needs to be supervised in some EFFECTIVE way for a lot longer than 10 years. He's only 42; he's got a lot of years left before he's either no longer with us or no longer in any shape to be a real threat to anyone, know what I'm saying?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted by Angela on March 12, 2008 in Celeb News
| Permalink | 
| 
| 
| 
|
RSS Subscribe
Seriously, does she emit some sort of high-pitched whistle that only crazies can hear?
Posted by: Amber | March 12, 2008 at 11:25 AM
Don't these guys realize she's not going to be into them? It's nothing personal.
Posted by: JP | March 12, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Smegal? "Lord of the Rings" fans, help me out here...wasn't that the name of the creepy little guy who was so obsessed with Preshusss?
Maybe it's all in the name?
Posted by: DianaCLT | March 12, 2008 at 12:31 PM
That photo of Jodie makes ME want to stalk her...but in a non-threatening way, of course!
Posted by: Suzy Q | March 12, 2008 at 01:22 PM
Diana that was Smeagol, but yea, I can totally see the similarities!
Posted by: Trish | March 12, 2008 at 01:47 PM
Diana, I was thinking the same thing, so of course I'm picturing this little creepy, hairless thing sending pictures of his dog...
Posted by: JennyM | March 12, 2008 at 02:28 PM
i guess she wins Most Stalkable Celebrity Ever, huh? (gee, i wonder what the statue for that award looks like...) UGH.
Posted by: sweetney | March 12, 2008 at 04:30 PM
SuzyQ, I was thinking the same thing! Of course, Smegal made me thing of schmeg...what does that say about me???
Posted by: Mumof2 | March 12, 2008 at 08:01 PM
Smegal definitely brought to mind poor Gollum.
Posted by: Mintea | March 12, 2008 at 10:07 PM
JennyM - thanks for elaborating on my thought. I just snorted loudly. Kids are asleep, and I was trying to choke back my LOL - it hurt! ;)
Posted by: DianaCLT | March 13, 2008 at 01:03 AM