MEGADETH Fan Arrested For Online Threat

September 1, 2011

According to The Vancouver Sun, a 44-year-old Appleton, Wisconsin man was arrested on charges of unlawful use of computerized communication systems and disorderly conduct after requesting a MEGADETH song via the chat room a Windsor, Ontario, Canada-based Internet radio show.

Trevor Fenton and Pat Ryan, hosts of "The MeltDown Show" on HardRockRadioLive, were taking song requests on Tuesday afternoon when a listener logged into the station's chat room as, "Watch_The_National _new_tomorrow_ I_am_going _to_go _a_ shooting_spree_ in_Appleton_WI."

The listener asked the hosts to play the MEGADETH track "Killing Is My Business . . . And Business Is Good", writing that it would be, "good music to go postal & kill a bunce of people to."

"We had to take that threat seriously, we couldn't ignore him. That was something we just couldn't ignore and not report," said Ryan. "It could have been a prank. But if he was serious and something happened, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself."

Fenton contacted the Appleton Police Department and helped an officer identify the man by tracking an IP address a number that all Internet devices use to communicate with each other to a computer at a public library. Online court records indicate the same man was convicted in 2000 of two misdemeanor offenses involving unlawful use of computerized communication.

"I think you would have to agree that in the day and age we're living in, any time there are threats made like that ... we need to take them seriously," Appleton Police sergeant Pat DeWall said. "Even if this person doesn't have a violent past, you have to always assume the worst, and hope for the best."

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