North Kingstown Man Gets 21 Months For Threatening Professor

NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI —A North Kingstown man who pleaded guilty to sending a Massachusetts professor more than two dozen emails with violent and graphic threats in 2019 was sentenced to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release in Boston federal court on Thursday.

According to court documents, Matthew Haviland, 30, made grotesque threats that included "I will bite through your eyeballs while you are still alive" and "I will torture you relentlessly ... (and) feed your body to pigs again and again."

"Today's sentence cannot atone for the fear that Matthew Haviland caused, and the sense of security his victims lost, but it does hold him accountable for sending dozens of rage-filled emails threatening horrific acts of violence," said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. "The FBI will vigorously protect every individual's constitutional right to free speech, but we will not allow anyone to hide behind the internet and put others in fear for their lives."

Haviland was charged with sending the emails in March 2019 and was arrested in April 2019. He pleaded guilty to one count of stalking and two counts of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce in September.

Documents showed Haviland made 28 email threats that also included "I will rip every limb from your body and eat it, piece by piece" and "You will have your face ripped off and eaten by me, personally."

Documents showed Haviland also made threats of sexual violence toward the professor, who had published papers and spoken in favor of abortion rights, which Haviland referenced in his emails in calling the professor a baby murderer.

Documents showed Haviland also sent an email advocating that the professor's school should be be bombed and that staff "should be murdered in cold blood."

"The Constitution protects everyone's right to free speech, but there is a hard line between free speech and the stalking and harassment committed in this case. My office will enforce that line," said United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. "Today's sentence affirms that these are serious crimes that warrant punishment."

Boston FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Warwick and North Kingstown Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney William F. Bloomer of Lelling's National Security Unity prosecuted the case.

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