Arkansas man suspected in CNN threats released on bond

Benjamin Craig Matthews
Benjamin Craig Matthews

A Mountain Home man accused of making threatening telephone calls to CNN has pleaded innocent and was released on $15,000 bond.

Benjamin Craig Matthews, 39, appeared Thursday before Baxter County Circuit Judge Gordon Webb.

Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge said Matthews bonded out on Saturday and returned Thursday for his arraignment.

The case originated in Atlanta, where CNN has its headquarters.

"We're going to follow the law of the state of Arkansas with this individual just like we would with anybody else," said Ethredge. "All the calls came out of our jurisdiction."

If Matthews makes any threatening phone calls, his bond will be revoked, said Ethredge.

Matthews made more than 40 threatening calls to CNN from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, according to a probable-cause affidavit. He was arrested on Election Day, Nov. 6.

Matthews has been charged with five counts of felony terroristic threatening, four counts of misdemeanor terroristic threatening and nine counts of harassing communications, which is a misdemeanor.

In several calls, Matthews, who is white, reportedly threatened a CNN journalist identified in court documents as DL.

The calls began shortly after Oct. 29, when CNN host Don Lemon, who is black, said on a live show regarding people heading north from Central America that, "We have to stop demonizing people and realize that the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right, and we have to start doing something about them. There is no travel ban on them. There is no ban -- you know, they had the Muslim ban. There is no white-guy ban. So what do we do about that?"

In a broadcast two nights later, Lemon referred to his previous comment: "I said that the biggest terror threat in this country comes from radicals on the far right, primarily white men. That angered some people. But let's put emotion aside and look at the cold hard facts. The evidence is overwhelming."

Lemon's name isn't mentioned in the court filings.

In one call, according to the affidavit, a caller asked the CNN switchboard operator, "Could I be directed to DL's dead body hanging from a tree?"

Another time, a caller asked if he could be directed to "pipe bombs for DL." That call was placed one week after Cesar Sayoc was arrested in connection with more than a dozen pipe bombs that were sent to prominent Democrats and critics of President Donald Trump. Some of the bombs were addressed to CNN contributors and mailed to CNN offices.

Another call spoke of "bloody pictures of DL cut up in small pieces, like the movie Saw," according to the affidavit from Sgt. Brad Hurst with the Baxter County sheriff's office.

Matthews' telephone records indicate that he also had made calls to MSNBC; U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; attorney Michael Avenatti; the Washington Speakers Bureau; and Planned Parenthood, "suggesting a pattern of harassment towards certain political affiliations," according to the affidavit.

Matthews has until March 21 to accept or reject a plea offer from Arkansas prosecutors. His trial is scheduled for the week beginning June 24.

Metro on 11/16/2018

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