California man charged with threatening to ‘unabomb’ FBI field office

(NEW YORK) — A California man was charged with planning to bomb the FBI Los Angeles field office, according to federal prosecutors.

Mark Anten, of Sun Valley, California, started in July allegedly sending threatening emails to the field office, referred to himself as the “Unabomber” and continued to send threatening messages through December — even visiting the office to “scope” it out, prosecutors said.

“Specifically, on November 2, 2023, ANTEN emailed FBI agents saying he ’embrace[d]’ that he was voted most likely in his graduating class to become the next Unabomber. In this email, ANTEN listed similarities between himself and the Unabomber, proclaimed that he was working on a manifesto, and signed his email ‘Unabomber,'” the court documents filed Wednesday say.

“You are playing games with the wrong game player. You are dangerously close to being added to the list,” Anten allegedly wrote on Nov. 2. “Trust me, you don’t want to be on the list. FBI Agents on the list receive … Threats of … imprisonment and death.”

On Nov. 20, FBI task force agents visited Anten at his house, “admonished” him for sending threatening emails to agents and provided him with an email to send communications to, the court documents state.

Despite the visit from FBI agents, he still continued to send threatening messages, prosecutors allege.

“In one email with the subject ‘It’s Only a Matter of Time,’ ANTEN closed the email with, ‘I don’t care about death or SuperMax,'” according to an email sent on Dec. 5, per court documents. “ANTEN said, ‘I AM THE UNABOMBER’ and ‘I WILL UNABOMB THE LOS ANGELES FBI HQ.’ In this email, ANTEN said, ‘I am supposed to be in Beverly Hills tomorrow for a meeting. I will swing by your office if there is time.’ ANTEN ended his email with, ‘[t]his ain’t over,’ and signed it ‘UNABOMBER.'”

The next day, he said he could go on a “mass murder spree. In fact, it would be very explainable by your actions.” He closed the email by saying “Supermax or Death,” according to charging documents.

He then sent a screenshot of his Google search which allegedly showed instructions on how to make a dirty bomb, and a few hours later on Dec. 6, he showed up to the office, but did not have any weapons, documents show.

The complaint alleges Anten has a history of making threats online.

“In one post, ANTEN said, ‘Just bought my first guns. AR-180 Assault rifle with cope, Colt K-Model .45 ACP, a Smith and Wesson .38 four-inch, a Beretta 225 ACP., Remington 100 Auto-loader.’ In a comment on that same post, ANTEN said, ‘And my enemies better be war,'” the complaint says.

A lawyer for Anten wasn’t immediately listed.

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