Woman who threatened Stiehm pleads guilty to bomb threats at post offices
Published 6:54 am Thursday, September 10, 2009
A Faribault woman previously convicted of threatening Austin Mayor Tom Stiehm and two local legislators pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in connection with making bomb threats against eight United States post offices in southern Minnesota.
Christina Anne Reineke, 39, specifically pleaded guilty to one count of sending a threatening communication.
She entered her plea in Minneapolis before U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim. She was indicted on April 21, 2009.
According to Reineke’s plea agreement, she mailed threatening letters to the post offices in Mankato, North Mankato, Lake Crystal, Madelia, New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, LeCenter and St. James on Feb. 4, 2009. The letters indicated that the post offices would be bombed, and postal employees and customers would die. The letters also stated, “Everyone deserves to die. May all of you blow up in smoke.”
According to a U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) affidavit, the letters received by the post offices did not disclose when or how the bombings would occur. Moreover, the letters, which were postmarked from Mankato, failed to display return addresses, although postal inspectors determined they were most likely mailed from New Ulm.
Reineke moved to New Ulm from Faribault after being released from Minnesota state prison in November 2008. She had been serving a 27-month sentence for making terroristic threats against Minnesota State Rep. Jeanne Poppe, Minnesota State Sen. Dan Sparks and Austin Mayor Tom Stiehm. She was living in New Ulm on Feb. 4, 2009, when the bomb threats were sent to the post offices.
A March 27, 2009, search of Reineke’s residence by law enforcement officials yielded notebook paper that matched the paper used to write the bomb threats. It also led to the discovery of a planner listing the addresses of the targeted post offices as well as an envelope containing three newspaper articles about the threats.
Reineke faces a potential maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison for her crime.
According to state court records, Reineke has been convicted several times since 1992 of theft, fraud and check forgery in Blue Earth, Hennepin, Mower, Rice and Nicollet counties, as well as terroristic threats in Wabasha County.
During an interview with the Austin Daily Herald in 2007, Reineke claimed she suffers from borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression.
Judge Tunheim will determine her sentence at a future date. This case is the result of an investigation by the USPIS, with assistance from the Minnesota Department of Corrections and the Faribault Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clifford B. Wardlaw.