Norwegian Sentenced for Threatening Maine Police

PORTLAND, ME: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II revealed that Espen Brungodt, 29, of Norway, was meted out a 15-month prison sentence in U.S. District Court for making threatening interstate communications. The sentence came into effect after Brungodt’s guilty plea on September 26, 2016.

According to court documents, on August 3, 2016, Brungodt dispatched an email to the Portland Police Department, issuing death threats against law enforcement officers. ‘Time for more police to die,’ the email began, detailing a plan of violence at the department and Cumberland County Parking Garage, culminating with a call to action: ‘More dead cops.’ Brungodt sent this message from his hotel room in Portland, where he was apprehended shortly afterward.

In pronouncing sentence, Judge D. Brock Hornby commended the Portland Police Department’s swift response to the threat and emphasized the email’s graphic nature, describing it as a ‘brutal threat of violence and death.’ The judge noted that Brungodt’s offense was exacerbated by his documented mental health issues and took into account his clean criminal record.

Under a plea agreement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has agreed to support any request for Brungodt’s sentence to be transferred under the International Prisoner Transfer Agreement between the United States and Norway. Upon completing his sentence in the U.S., Brungodt will be deported and barred from re-entering the country.

This case was a collaborative effort by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Portland Police Department, ensuring that justice was served for those threatened by Brungodt’s actions.