Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A)
To   : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Thu Apr 07 2022 21:08:50

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2319, for Friday, April 8th, 2022

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2319 with a release date of Friday, 
April 8th, 2022, to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. Two hams face criminal charges in the US and 
France. The FCC clarifies its new license fees -- and get ready for 
World Amateur Radio Day. All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline 
Report Number 2319, comes your way right now.

**

BILLBOARD CART HERE

**

FRENCH AMATEUR SENTENCED FOR ON-AIR THREATS

JIM/ANCHOR: We begin this week with two stories about amateur radio 
operators charged with using their licenses for criminal purposes. The 
first story comes to us from Jeremy Boot, G4NJH, and concerns a radio 
amateur in France.

JEREMY: A French radio amateur was found guilty of making threats, 
insults and homophobic remarks on the air, has been sentenced to a year 
in prison suspended for two years and put on probation, according to 
various reports in the French media. He was also ordered off the air and 
to pay a fine of ’5,000, and further pay compensation to two plaintiffs.

The ham, who is 65 years old, was identified only as "G‚rard" in the 
news reports. His callsign, which he had apparently used on the air to 
identify himself, was not provided. The court of Versailles sentenced 
him on Monday the 28th of March. The complaints against him included 
both death threats and a false report of someone's death. He had been 
arrested a number of times, going back to late 2020 when his radio 
equipment was seized. But according to news reports, he then went on to 
purchase yet more radios.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH.

(OUEST FRANCE, SOUTHGATE)

**

PENNSYLVANIA AMATEUR FACES NEW CRIMINAL CHARGES

JIM/ANCHOR: Meanwhile in the United States, a ham charged earlier this 
year with using the airwaves for criminal activity is back in the news 
with new charges filed against him. Sel Embee, KB3TZD, has the details.

SEL: Richard Wagner - the Erie, Pennsylvania radio amateur charged with 
making bomb threats and bogus weather reports over the air late last 
year and earlier this year - faces new charges of again using the 
airwaves for criminal purposes. According to a report in the ERIE TIMES-
NEWS, detectives in Erie County filed charges on Tuesday, March 29th, 
saying the radio amateur used emergency frequencies in late March to 
make threats against witnesses, victims and a judge who had presided 
over his earlier criminal cases. Richard Wagner's callsign is listed as 
N-3-B-W-G on Q-R-Zed-dot-com.

Meanwhile, all but two of the 37 criminal charges in those earlier cases 
had been dropped on March 3rd and the bond money holding him in prison 
was substantially reduced.

In the latest development, detectives claim that Wagner made the new 
threatening transmissions over frequencies used by the county Emergency 
Management office and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. He 
was arrested and placed in Erie County Prison on $175,000 bond, and now 
faces charges of bomb threats and retaliation against a prosecutor or 
judicial official.

For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Sel Embee, KB3TZD.

(ERIE TIMES-NEWS)
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32
 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33)

.