Chad Castagana

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Chad Conrad Castagana, 39, is a American from Woodland Hills, California. Castagana was arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force on November 12 2006 on suspicion of sending threatening letters filled with white powder intended to mimic anthrax or other WMDs to Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart, Sumner Redstone, David Letterman, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer, and others.^[1]

In September 2006, Castagana purchased a $15 money order, made out to "Friends of Katherine Harris", at the same time he purchased the envelopes and stamps used in his alleged crimes. This helped lead the authorities to Castagana.^[1]

1 Background
2 The letters
3 Indictment
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Background

Castagana, lacking a driver's license, traveled by foot to the mailboxes on Woodland Hills’ Ventura Boulevard. It was during this routine that he was arrested on charges of conveying false information and sending threats via the U.S. mail system.

Castagana "described himself as a compulsive voter who votes Republican, and he said that he sent the letters to specific individuals because he did not like their liberal politics," according to the FBI affidavit.^[1]

Castagana lived in a beige, multistory hillside home with his 78-year-old mother, rarely interacting with his neighbors. On an old van parked in the driveway of Castagana's parents hillside home, the phrase "Death to all liberals" was inscribed on the van's dirty back window. A search warrant of the Woodland Hills home revealed "possible chemicals that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction or literature that shows how to make it."^[1] Additionally the search of his home revealed a large cache of newspaper clippings, and writings relating to Pelosi, Letterman, Stewart, and others such as Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward, MSNBC host Keith Olberman and New York Sen. Charles Schumer; Individuals that where the recipients, and intended recipients of Castagana’s letters.

Free Republic founder Jim Robinson aknowledged that Castagana had been a poster at Free Republic, and had been the subject of bannings in the past. Robinson noted that Castagana's last username had been Marc Costanzo.^[2]The posts in question were determined to be Castagana's by examination of the IP logs.^[2]

Castagana wrote about the letter-threat incidents on Free Republic, in one case noting Keith Olbermann's reported reaction to receiving one of the letters Castagana is alleged to have sent. Castagana, posting as Costanzo whose sig line read "Name your poison", wrote on Free Republic on 10-30-2006 regarding the Olbermann letter-threat "I do not believe he sent it to himself. But that is just guess work." and "I heard from a liberal blog that Olbermann was a prima donna at the hospital...." [1]

According to Raw Story, the account associated with this matter had been removed by Free Republic once the incident became public.^[3]

[edit] The letters

Castagana sent at least 13 letters, but not all reached his intended victims. One letter destined for TV host Jon Stewart was received by another man named Jon Stewart.

This specific letter asked: "Do you know Alan Berg? You should. Death to demagogues." Alan Berg was a Jewish talk-radio host murdered by white-supremacists in Denver in 1984.

Castagana also sent letters to Stewart's office at Comedy Central and his home address, and had the return addresses of perceived liberal luminaries like Norman Lear, Susan Estrich, and even William Shatner.

One of the Stewart letters included a "picture of a recently deceased tsunami victim with a condition known as Priapism, an erect penis on a cadaver." Handwritten on the picture were the words, "Jon Stewart, Fuck Your Wife."

To Keith Olbermann: "There are too many demagogues in America. All of you are poisoning the well! Time to give your kind a taste of your own medicine."

To Sumner Redstone: "Fuck You Mr Monopolist"(sic)

To David Letterman: "more then one way to frag a demagogue... your kind are the real poison"(sic)

To Nancy Pelosi: "CUNTFACE. IMPEACH THIS."[2]

[edit] Indictment

On December 1, 2006, Chad Castagana was indicted in federal court in Los Angeles, California. ^[4] He was indicted on 14 individual counts of sending a threat or hoax via the United States Postal Service. Each count carries a possible five-year prison sentence.