Milwaukee's archbishop receives email threats

By Colleen Henry
WISN
August 22, 2015

http://www.wisn.com/news/milwaukees-archbishop-receives-email-threats/34850730

As the head of Milwaukee's Catholic archdiocese, Archbishop Jerome Listecki has found himself at the center of many public controversies -- priest sexual abuse, gay marriage and a papal portrait woven with condoms.

Newly unsealed court records show Listecki was the target of two threatening emails in May.

The first read, "Archbishop Listecki, your behavior and attitude reflects that you're a loser. I have been indirectly responsible for the murder of at least 80 people in the Milwaukee area."

The writer appears to believe the archbishop has some relationship to Marquette's law school, which he doesn't, and threatened, "Your kids coming out of Marquette law are spineless, common, simple thinkers. There have already been about 25 killed. You want more? I was raised to do this."

Investigators tracked the emails to a computer at the YWCA on North Martin Luther King Drive

WISN 12 News obtained a copy of the subpoena for the writers' email accounts: james@wi.rr.com and rockit@yahoo.com. 

“It's open completely to the public. You can go down. You can use the computer. You can search for jobs. That's principally what they're there for,” said John Yingling with the YWCA.

Yingling said they were unable to help police determine who used one of the computers to threaten the archbishop.

“There's no way to tell which individual may have been on which computer,” Yingling said.

Police are hoping someone will recognize the writer's email addresses or gripes with the archbishop and Marquette law school and turn him in.