An old law enforcement officer once told a group of young men that every criminal he had ever arrested was some combination of greedy, mean, and stupid, and an Illinois man now facing federal charges appears to have leaned heavily into the last of those traits.
According to RedState, federal authorities say 40-year-old Matthew G. Unglesbee of Illinois mailed letters containing a white, granular substance to four members of Congress, then effectively gift-wrapped the case for investigators by bragging about it in public and putting his own return address on the envelopes. The episode underscores not only the recklessness of targeting elected officials, but also the increasingly bizarre nature of political intimidation in an era when common sense seems to be in short supply.
A criminal complaint states that an Illinois man was charged with two felonies Monday after allegedly sending letters containing an unknown white powder substance to members of Congress. Prosecutors allege that Matthew G. Unglesbee was charged with false information and hoaxes and mailing threatening communications after four members of Congress received the letters, which were marked with his return address, according to the complaint.
When questioned by the FBI, Unglesbee reportedly tried to pass off the stunt as mere mischief. Unglesbee told the FBI the substance in the letters was salt and that he mailed them as a joke, the complaint read.
Threatening a member of Congress is never a joke, even if the substance turns out to be something harmless enough to sprinkle on a baked potato. In this case, though, the manner in which Unglesbee allegedly exposed himself is almost darkly comic.
The FBI received a tip that Unglesbee had sent the letters on Oct. 16, the complaint notes, after a witness overheard him at a restaurant boasting that he had mailed suspicious substances to members of Congress. The tipster allegedly provided authorities with Unglesbees full name, address and date of birth.
From there, the case only became more straightforward for investigators. All four letters were marked with Unglesbees name and return address, according to the complaint.
It is entirely possible Unglesbee was chasing his 15 minutes of attention, if not fame then at least notoriety, in a culture that too often rewards outrageous behavior. The FBI has not disclosed which lawmakers were targeted, so his political leanings remain unknown, but it is worth noting that in recent years such hoaxes and intimidation tactics have tended to come from the activist Left, which has normalized harassment of public officials it dislikes.
Agents interviewed Unglesbee at his home on Saturday, where he allegedly confessed to sending the letters. He reportedly told investigators he was inspired after overhearing others talk about members of Congress receiving similar threatening mail, a rationale that invites the old parental question: if you overheard someone talking about jumping off a bridge, would you do that too?
Unglesbee also admitted that the material was salt, a claim that did not prevent the FBI from conducting tests on the white powder. Preliminary lab analysis found nothing alarming, but the resources expended and the fear potentially triggered on Capitol Hill are real costs of this kind of juvenile stunt.
The deeper motivation behind such behavior is difficult to fathom, and as the late broadcaster Paul Harvey wisely observed, if you could understand it, we'd have to worry about you. Yet in a climate where political threats and harassment appear to be on the rise, it was perhaps inevitable that someone this far down the sensibility scale would decide to join in.
Mailing a threatening letter with your own return address is the civic equivalent of robbing a bank and asking the teller to deposit the loot directly into your checking account. It is a reminder that while the justice system must take every threat seriously, it is often dealing not with criminal masterminds, but with foolish individuals whose contempt for our institutions is matched only by their lack of judgment.
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