The man who sent a package with suspicious white powder to Donald Trump Jr. was sentenced to five years of probation, escaping a hefty jail sentence after being charged with threatening the president’s son.
U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston sentenced Daniel Frisiello, 25, which included one of the five years of his probation to be served in home detention along with an ankle GPS monitor, after he pleaded guilty in October of last year to sending 13 threatening letters over a span of several years. Six of those letters included a white powder.
Federal prosecutors in Boston sought a three-year jail sentence, but the judge took into consideration the defendant’s mental health claims. Frisiello suffered from delays in brain development and has autism. Those considerations provide “context to understand the genesis of his crimes and to gauge the degree of his moral culpability,” according to the judge.
Frisiello sent a package containing the suspicious white powder to Trump in early 2018. The letter, which was addressed to both Trump and his then-wife Vanessa Trump, contained cornstarch meant to resemble anthrax. She was sent to the hospital as a precaution after opening the letter, where doctors cleared her after a short hospitalization.
A note along with the package said: “You are an awful, awful person. I am surprised that your father lets you speak on TV. You are the family idiot, Eric looks smart,” according to federal authorities during the investigation.
“This is the reason why people hate you, so you are getting what you deserve,” the note contained.
Frisiello also sent a threatening letter to Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and to other federal candidates across the country.
