New details emerge on Krangle’s arrest

New details from the criminal complaint against Mark Lee Krangle show he was arrested after… New details from the criminal complaint against Mark Lee Krangle show he was arrested after sending threatening emails to Pitt professors.

Pitt police arrested Krangle on one charge of harassment by communication and one charge of terroristic threats on Wednesday afternoon at the Pittsburgh International Airport.

According to the criminal complaint, Krangle, a 65-year-old resident of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., sent three emails to current and retired Pitt professors, threatening them and claiming that the recent bomb threats are being orchestrated to further his cause, as outlined in his book, “Revolution or Extinction.”

“If you guys do not show me supportiveness in every possible way that your meager little academic fantasy world lives can muster, your graves will be defiled by enraged citizens in the future after you die (I hope natural deaths),” Krangle said in an email to current and retired professors Thomas Kane, Donald Egolf, Jack Daniel and Attilio Favorini.

Pitt spokesman John Fedele said on Wednesday that he was not able to say whether Krangle’s arrest was related to the bomb threats that Pitt received this semester. Since Krangle’s arrest, the University has received 12 more threats, bringing the semester’s total to 79.

According to the complaint, Krangle’s first email said he was planning to come to Pittsburgh “for as long as it takes to get his story covered by the local and national press.”

Since April 3, Krangle began regularly posting public Facebook comments about the bomb threats.

“I swear someone told me they were going to orchestrate this exact series of threats some time ago in order to help me to tell my story about an America that none of you should be proud of,” he posted on April 6.

The criminal complaint states that Krangle’s second email referenced the shooting at Western Psychiatric Institute.

“Don’t try to do anything that may involve Western Psych when I get to town. I am not violent or crazy, and that’s why Shick was put into play. Things would get much worse if you try to derail me. Support me or perish,” the email said.