Monmouth Man Who Threatened Officials, Made Bomb Threats Is Sentenced

TRENTON, NJ – A former Monmouth County man was sentenced Thursday to 240 months in prison for making threatening telephone and email communications to New Jersey officials, and for phoning in false bomb threats to various locations - including the Monmouth County Courthouse, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Eric G. Hafner, 32, formerly of Monmouth County, had previously admitted he made threats to state officials, judges, law enforcement officers and attorneys in an extortion attempt. He also admitted he phoned in false bomb threats to local and state government offices, a police department, two law firms and a commercial establishment, Sellinger said.

"These types of threating communications are unacceptable. They cause serious harm to victims, and will be met with a swift response by this office. This defendant has now faced justice for these serious crimes,” Sellinger said.

Hafner had pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp on May 17, 2022, to one count of making threating communications in interstate or foreign commerce with intent to extort; one count of making threatening communications in interstate or foreign commerce; and one count of conveying false information concerning the use of an explosive device.

U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi imposed the sentence Thursday in Trenton federal court.

“This defendant repeatedly targeted public servants—elected representatives, judges, and law enforcement officials—and private citizens with threats and attempts at extortion,” Sellinger said. “He further victimized these public officials, private citizens, and the public generally by calling in numerous false bomb threats to a courthouse, a police department, law firms, businesses, and an elected official’s office.

Hafner lived in Bradley Beach and may have also lived in Fair Haven and at one point in Toms River in Ocean County, Matthew Reilly, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney's Office/District of New Jersey, has said. Hafner ran unsuccessfully for Congress from Hawaii and then Oregon while in hiding.

Hafner was originally charged with transmission of threatening communications in a one-count criminal complaint on Oct. 6, 2016.

The complaint remained under seal until he was arrested in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Territory, on Sept. 27, 2019, where he had an initial appearance before Chief U.S. District Judge Ramona V. Manglona, according to previous press releases from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Hafner had his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tonianne J. Bongiovanni in Trenton federal court upon his arrival in the District of New Jersey on Oct. 23, 2019. At that time, Hafner was ordered detained without bail, the statement said.

Reilly has said that Hafner continued to be detained.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

• Between July 2016 and May 2018, while residing outside the United States, Hafner communicated threats to numerous individuals located in and around Monmouth County and elsewhere.
• The victims were elected officials, judges, police officers, attorneys, and their families. Hafner sought to extort $350,000 from some of his victims. Hafner also made false bomb threats to an elected official’s office, a county courthouse, a police department, two law firms, and a commercial establishment.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Quraishi sentenced Hafner to three years of supervised release.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office, there is no early release in the federal system. Inmates can accrue some time reduction for good behavior, but defendants have to serve their entire sentence. Hafner will get credit for the time he has already spent in custody.

Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI( Newark Division, Red Bank Resident Agency), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

He also thanked detectives of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and officers of the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office; New Jersey State Police, as well as numerous local police departments, including in Bradley Beach, Fair Haven, Aberdeen, Hazlet, Shrewsbury, Red Bank, Freehold Township, Middletown, Neptune, Oceanport, Deal and Manasquan for their assistance in the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ian D. Brater of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal Division in Trenton and R. Joseph Gribko, Deputy Chief of the Civil Rights Division.

Defense counsel is Mark Catanzaro, Mount Holly.