Howard Stern Caller Threatens Lieberman

N E W   Y O R K, Aug. 15 -- A 23-year-old New York man was placed under house arrest today on charges that he made a death threat to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Democratic vice-presidential choice, during the Howard Stern radio talk show.

Lawrence Christian Franco, who works in the paper distribution department at Newsday in Long Island, was arrested late Monday night by the Secret Service at his Farmingdale home.

He was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court this afternoon. A federal magistrate judge placed him under house arrest, ordered him to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and undergo a psychiatric examination. The magistrate alsobarred Franco from using the phone without the permission ofhis father, with whom he lives.

If convicted of threatening to kill or inflict harm upon a major candidate for the office of vice president, Franco faces up to three years in prison.

According to court papers, Franco had called the Howard Stern show at about 6:25 a.m. Monday and identified himself as “Nazarene.”

Repeated Threats

After an assistant screened Franco’s call, he was allowed to go on the air and allegedly threatened to kill or harm Lieberman. Court papers said that Franco allegedly said that he “hates that Jesus crap. So that Lieberman guy has gonna go. He is gonna take my bullet. He’s going to take it.”

When Stern asked Franco whether he was threatening Lieberman, Franco replied that he was “not threatening, I’m telling you right now. … You got the killer on the air. … And that is me right here.”

Stern told Franco that when callers make inflammatory statements that appear to be threats, law enforcement authorities take the comments seriously. Stern then told Franco that if he was joking, he should say so.

Instead of apologizing, Franco then allegedly made additional threats against Lieberman and law enforcement in general.

“I hate church. I hate churchgoers. I hate them all,” heallegedly said.