Telegram & Gazette
NEW ORLEANS — A former Anna Maria College professor was sentenced yesterday to three years’ probation arising from a case in which he was accused of stalking and making Internet threats against a New Orleans police officer.
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman also ordered Gary O’Bireck, of Elmira, N.Y., to pay a $5,000 fine following his guilty plea in August to concealing a crime.
The 58-year-old Mr. O’Bireck was an associate professor of criminology and sociology at Anna Maria College in Paxton, Mass., when he allegedly used a fake online identity to threaten a police officer he accused of raping his girlfriend in 2007.
The officer has not been identified in court records, and Judge Feldman declined to release a copy of a letter from the officer’s family to the court. A police spokesman said in March that the officer was not the subject of any pending investigations but couldn’t elaborate.
Prosecutors say Mr. O’Bireck admitted using Facebook usernames, including "Michael Loves Mayhem," to send threatening emails to the officer. The FBI said Mr. O’Bireck hinted in the messages that he was a law-enforcement officer with friends in the Hell’s Angels biker gang who would harm him.
One of the profanity-laced messages urges the officer to "own up to what you did."
"It’ll save your life," it said. "If you don’t you’ll be history in 2 months maybe sooner. I mean torture."
Relatives of the officer declined to address the judge before he sentenced Mr. O’Bireck, who apologized for "causing issues that I should have known better about."
Mr. O’Bireck’s lawyer, Steven Irwin, said his client’s actions were an aberration "contrary to everything the man has done in his life."
"An aberration? They were downright weird," Judge Feldman said.
The judge said he received a letter from the officer’s family before the hearing.
"They think you ought to be put away forever, and frankly I don’t blame them," Judge Feldman said.
Mr. O’Bireck faced a maximum of 3 years in prison for pleading guilty to one count of misprision of a felony.
"If I see you here again," Judge Feldman told Mr. O’Bireck, "I will impose the maximum sentence permitted by law."
A school spokeswoman said in August that the college no longer employed him.
Copyright 2011 Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Inc.
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