Beverly Man Who Threatened OkCupid CEO Will Plead Guilty

BEVERLY, MA — A Beverly man will plead guilty in U.S. District this month and admit he sent threatening letters to the online dating OkCupid and its CEO after he was banned from the site. U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris set a plea change hearing for June 20 for Liam MacLeod, 47, who was charged with mailing threatening communications and conveying false information after his February arrest.

The criminal complaint says between September and December 2017, OkCupid received the letters at its corporate headquarters in Dallas. A letter addressed to CEO Ariel Charytan was sent on Sept. 12 and contained white powder and a handwritten note that read "Greetings from Beverly Ban me will ya Welcome to the wonderful world of ANTHRAX Expect a package within the next couple of days It won't be ticking but it should be interesting!" [all sic]

Prosecutors say MacLeod mailed another letter addressed to the CEO two days later. In that letter, the note read "How'd you like what I sent you? Aww, go take a powder. Oh, the things I have in store for you! I can go on like this for years. How long can you last? Incidentally, my father was an angel: That's Hell's Angel to you. You see, we have some pull. Take for example your vehicles. We now know who owns what, and where each of you parks his. Hmm, think of the possibilities!"

MacLeod is also accused of sending the company a piece of paper stained with blood that he claimed was infected with the AIDs virus. Between Oct. 4 and Dec. 21, 2017, MacLeod sent five more threats, each of which required a Hazmat team response, the criminal complaint said.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).