Arkansas man accused of threatening CNN’s Don Lemon pleads non-guilty
A 39-year-old white male from Arkansas has been charged with 18 different counts of making threats aimed at CNN anchor Don Lemon.
Benjamin Craig Matthews was arrested on election day after he allegedly made more than 40 calls to the network and issued death threats against Lemon.
According to usatoday.com, Matthews faces five felony counts of terroristic threatening, nine misdemeanor counts of harassing communications and four misdemeanor counts of second-degree terroristic threatening.
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Authorities in Atlanta say the calls to CNN began on Oct. 31. In one call, according to the affidavit filed in Baxter County Circuit Court, Matthews asked the CNN switchboard operator to direct him to Don Lemon’s “dead body hanging from a tree”
Another time, Matthews asked if his call could be directed to “pipe bombs for DL.”
In another call, he spoke of “bloody pictures of DL cut up in small pieces, like the movie Saw,” according to the affidavit, per arkansasonline.com.
Matthews reportedly made more than 40 threatening calls to CNN from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. During one call, he asked the operator to help kill Lemon.
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The Department of Homeland Security was able to track the phone that led them to Matthews. The investigation of the incident revealed that he also made threatening calls to U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., attorney Michael Avenatti, the Washington Speakers Bureau and Planned Parenthood, the report states.
“Audio recordings of the phone calls indicate that all of the calls were made from the same male subject,” according to the affidavit. “A person who has personal knowledge of Benjamin Matthews agreed to listen to samplings of the phone calls. The person positively identified the voice as that of Benjamin Matthews.”
Matthews has pleaded not guilty to the charges and the Baxter Bulletin reports he is currently free on $15,000 bail. The four felony counts of terroristic threatening that he faces are punishable by up to six years each in prison if convicted.
