Online threats against New Orleans cop lead to guilty plea | NOLA.com

Online threats against New Orleans cop lead to guilty plea NOLA.com

"A criminal justice professor at a small Massachusetts college pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in New Orleans and admitted stalking and threatening a New Orleans police officer.

Gary M. O'Bireck, 57, of Elmira, N.Y., pleaded guilty to one count of misprision of felony, or failing to report a crime, according to court records.

O'Bireck, a professor at Anna Maria College, a school near Worcester, Mass., was arrested in March for allegedly terrorizing a local cop and accusing the officer of raping O'Bireck's girlfriend in 2007.

The case resulted in O'Bireck's plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

He is slated to be sentenced in December, according to court records. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

O'Bireck threatened to harm the officer numerous times during a six-month period that began last August.

He also alleged in numerous postings on the Internet that the officer had raped a Loyola University student in 2007. O'Bireck said he was the boyfriend of the student and wanted the officer to step forward.

"U have 1 day. if we don't hear from u, consider urself a ghost," O'Bireck wrote in one such message.

The Times-Picayune is not identifying the target of the threats, a police officer who has not been charged in any sexual assault.

O'Bireck's online threats also made references to the Hell's Angels motorcycle club, writing that "they'll chop you into pieces."

"Think chainsaws," he wrote. "They hate cops and cops removal is a pastime."

The messages continued. In January, O'Bireck messaged the officer with his telephone number and suggested the two talk.

The FBI later searched O'Bireck's home and computers and recovered the messages.

O'Bireck, who taught criminal justice and sociology, was placed on administrative leave at the school after his arrest."