VINALHAVEN — A 39-year-old Vinalhaven man is being held by federal authorities, accused of making numerous telephone calls to the Swedish embassy and threatening staff and the country’s king.
Eric Malmstrom
Eric Malmstrom was arrested March 9 in Sanford on a warrant issued by the U.S. District Court in Portland at the request of the U.S. Secret Service. Malmstrom is charged with interstate transmission of threatening communications.
He made his initial appearance Monday in the federal court in Portland. Magistrate Judge John Rich III ordered Malmstrom temporarily detained until a hearing is held Thursday.
An affidavit filed in court by Secret Service Special Agent Matthew Fasulo stated that the Swedish embassy in Washington, D.C., began receiving telephone calls from Malmstrom beginning on Oct. 10, 2017.
In the calls, he would threaten to attack staff and their children.
He also threatened to attack King Carl (Carl XVI) Gustaf with a knife.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office met with Malmstrom on Nov. 4 and he denied making the calls but acknowledged he was upset with the Swedish government because when he visited Sweden, the government ignored him. The affidavit stated that records showed Malmstrom, of Swedish descent, had visited Sweden in 2000 and had a valid passport.
After the sheriff’s office contacted Malmstrom, the frequencies of the calls to the embassy increased, sometimes to 10 times a day.
In his last call on March 6, he said he would be coming to Washington, D.C., over that weekend and would slit the staff member’s throat and dump her body in the river outside the office.
The last call from Malmstrom came from Sanford where he was staying with a relative.
That is when the Secret Service arrested Malmstrom.
The maximum sentence for the offense is five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
Malmstrom’s attorney Robert Andrews of Portland said it was too early in the case to make a statement but the defense would undertake an investigation of the facts and could comment after that point.
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