Incident Details
- Date of Incident
- May 15, 2024
- Location
- Dallas Township, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania man who threatened journalist sentenced to probation
The man who threatened a reporter at the Times Leader newspaper in Pennsylvania was sentenced on Nov. 25, 2024, to one year of probation, the paper reported.
John T. Premo had emailed the paper in January to request the removal of a 2021 article about his arrest for drunken driving and fleeing police; the paper did not comply. Months later, Premo left a threatening message on the cellphone of a reporter’s wife, according to the paper, which did not identify the reporter.
Premo was arrested in May and charged with harassment, disorderly conduct and making terroristic threats. Later that month, the harassment and disorderly conduct charges were withdrawn. In September, Premo pleaded guilty to the remaining charge, which was downgraded to disorderly conduct, per the terms of a plea agreement.
Premo must write a letter of apology to the victim and spend the first two months of his probation under house arrest with electronic monitoring, the Times Leader reported.
A man was charged on May 15, 2024, with harassment, disorderly conduct and making terroristic threats after allegedly threatening a journalist at the Times Leader, a newspaper that covers northeastern Pennsylvania.
A Times Leader reporter filed a complaint against Dallas Township resident John T. Premo on May 1, according to the paper, after Premo left a threatening message on the cellphone of the reporter’s wife. An affidavit by a county detective quoted the message: “Yo, if this is (name of victim redacted), you are a piece of sh–. You’re garbage, and you are going to f—ing die.”
Premo had emailed the newspaper in January to request removal of a 2021 article about his arrest for drunken driving and fleeing police because it was “now outdated, no longer relevant and causing financial harm to his family and business,” according to the Times Leader.
During a May 14 interview with investigators after the reporter’s complaint was filed, Premo said that he had paid someone $5,000 to remove the article from the Internet and referred to the reporter with profanity, the paper reported.
The Times Leader did not identify the reporter and did not respond to a request for comment from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Premo is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 28, according to court records.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
