LI Man Gets 30 Months In Prison For Threatening LGBTQ Community: Feds

BAYPORT, NY —A retired Bayport music teacher and coach who pleaded guilty to threatening organizers of a gay pride parade was sentenced to 30 months in prison in federal court on Wednesday afternoon, according to the United States Eastern District of New York.

Robert Fehring, 74, pleaded guilty in February to mailing threatening communications, after threatening people for eight years because of their sexual orientation, prosecutors said.

According to an investigation, since 2013, Fehring authored and mailed at least 65 threatening letters to individuals, organizations, and businesses associated with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning — LGBTQ+ — community, as well as government agencies, officials said.

“There is no room for hate in the Eastern District of New York. Today’s sentence makes clear that threats to kill and commit acts of violence against the LGBTQ+ community will be met with significant punishment,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace. “We will use the full
power of our office to bring to justice those who threaten to kill or hurt people because of who
they are, and to ensure everyone in our district is able to live authentically, safely and in peace.”

Dr. David Kilmnick, president and CEO of the LGBT Network in Hauppauge, said in a press conference after the sentencing that he was the victim of Fehring's threats for years.

"I was fearful for myself, for my husband and for my mother," he said. "I was fearful for someone else in our community, whether it was our young people, our seniors, our parents."

Most of Fehring letters threatened violence, including the use of firearms and explosives, court documents said.

One event included LGBTQ+ Pride event on June 13, 2021 in Eisenhower Park in May 2021. According to court documents, Fehring threatened Kilmnick, saying he would be shot at the event.

Fehring showed up at the event, took photographs and videos, and sent them to the CEO to prove that he had been at the event but had been unable "to get a shot off," officials said. He also sent the CEO a doctored Newsday newspaper page with offensive language, in an envelope, prosecutors said.

"I was attacked over and over again, saying the different ways that he was going to put a bullet through my head," said Kilmnick. "He said he knows where I live. And we found out he only lives 15 minutes from me."

In another instance, Fehring sent a letter to a water ferry operator in Sayville threatening to shoot people traveling to a Pride event on Fire Island, New York, officials said.

The investigation revealed that the Fehring drove to the Sayville ferry terminal several times per year for several years and parked at the terminal with a custom-designed "Straight Pride" flag on his car, officials said.

Fehring also stole more than 20 Pride flags from the town of Sayville in June 2021, prosecutors said.

After a search of Fehring's home, officials said they found two loaded shotguns and nearly 400 rounds of ammunition for shotguns and other firearms.

Officers also said they found:

• Copies of several of the threatening letters described herein.
• Photographs and videos taken at the Eisenhower Park Pride Event, including the photographs mailed to the LGBT CEO.
• Two calendars with the dates of the Eisenhower Park Pride Event and the New York City Pride Parade circled.
• A copy of the doctored Newsday newspaper sent to the LGBT CEO.
• 20 Pride flags that were stolen from Sayville.
• A stamped envelope in his Fehring freezer containing the remains of a dead bird, which was addressed to an attorney who had worked on LGBTQ+ related cases, had published an article on an LGBTQ+ related court decision, and represented a plaintiff in civil litigation against the defendant.
• An envelope addressed to the defendant containing a DVD titled, "Underground BuildYour Own Silencer System."

According to prosecutors, a total of six victims addressed the court and described the fear that Fehring’s threats instilled in them.

At the end of the sentencing, Kilmnick said that Fehring apologized to the victims for his actions, saying that he was sorry to "offend" them. But Kilmnick said this was a "joke" of a statement.

"It's not an 'offense' when you say you're going to put a bullet through my head, or use any other kind of weapon," said Kilmnick. "That is crime — that is certainly worthy of more than two and a half years."

Kilmnick also said others may think Fehring threatened the LGBTQ+ community because he "didn't like" their "lifestyle" and felt there was a feeling of "cultural incompetency" on display in the courtroom.

"My lifestyle is about going where I wanted to go," he said. "But being gay is not a lifestyle. Being Black, being a woman is not a lifestyle."

Fehring was arrested by the FBI on December 6, 2021.

In August 2021, a former Bayport student brought sexual abuse charges against Fehring, officials said. According to a case filed in the Child Victims Act, the woman faced"repeated sexual assault and abuse" by Fehring while she was a minor and a student at Bellport High School in the late 1970s.

Kilmnick also mentioned his mother, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 80.

"Every day, I left for work and she would say to me that she was worried. And she would pray," he said. "She didn't get to live to not have that worry now, that he was put away."

For all of the crimes that he has committed, Kilmnick said he believed that a 30-month sentence is not enough.

"Why is he getting only half the sentence, when he has committed the crimes that he has?" he said. "All these innocent people who have been victimized, who have been traumatized, will have to live with this throughout their whole lives."