FBI arrests North Kingstown man for violent threats

By Jordan Mazza

Email: jmazza@abc6.com

Twitter: @JordanMazzaTV

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WLNE) – A North Kingstown man was arrested Wednesday after sending a series of threatening emails to a Massachusetts professor.

Matthew Haviland, 30, was arrested by FBI agents and charged with cyberstalking and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce after sending a series of messages threatening violence and bodily harm to a professor at a Massachusetts university and another school where that professor works.

On March 10th, Haviland allegedly sent the victim a series of 28 emails threatening violence after the victim published articles and spoke in favor of abortion rights.

Authorities said Haviland sent another 12 messages to a professional school at the victim’s university making additional threats of violence.

“I will rip every limb from your body and eat it, piece by piece,” reads one email.

“I will bite through your eyeballs while you’re still alive, and I will laugh while you scream,” reads another.

And yet another email reads, “You should be murdered in cold blood.”

“Simply put, words matter, and today’s arrest of Matthew Haviland should serve as a warning to others who think they can use the internet to terrorize people. Don’t do it,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. “Everyone has the right to express their opinion, but when you threaten, harass, intimidate, and put others in fear for their lives, it’s a federal crime.”

Boston FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force was assisted in the arrest and ongoing investigation by Warwick and North Kingstown Police Departments.

North Kingstown police made multiple wellness checks on Haviland in the last year, and he told them he had no intention of harming anyone.

With these charges, the FBI disagrees.

Haviland appeared in federal court Wednesday afternoon in Boston, and could face up to five years in prison.

©WLNE-TV / ABC6 2019