Man charged for sending death threats to Placerville company

A 57-year-old man from Washington has been indicted on charges he posted threats on a popular news website that he was going to kill an officer of StemExpress, a company in Placerville, Calif. that sells stem cells and human tissue to biomedical research companies.

Scott Anthony Orton, of Puyallup, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after he posted threats on July 16, 2015 after videos surfaced that supposedly showed a relationship between Planned Parenthood and StemExpress.

“The management of StemExpress should be taken by force and killed in the streets today. Kill StemExpress employees. I'll pay you for it," Orton said in his comments.

"The videos have since been shown to be heavily edited and proved to be false," executives from StemExpress said in a statement. "The defendant, like so many others, was manipulated. The deceptive nature of the videos, however, does not excuse or lessen the criminal nature of his actions."

Orton was charged with transmitting interstate threats which carries a maximum statutory penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“Terrorizing others through threats of violence, whether communicated in person or through media websites, is cruel, dangerous and disruptive, and is also a federal crime,” said U.S. Attorney Wagner. “Those who seek to terrorize others online should not assume that they will be protected by the anonymity of the Internet. We will identify and prosecute them.”

“The FBI will identify and investigate threats and those who solicit violence on the Internet,” said Special Agent in Charge Monica M. Miller of the FBI’s Sacramento field office. “While we all have a right to state our opinions, anonymously terrorizing others with threats of significant harm will not be tolerated.”

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Brian A. Fogerty is prosecuting the case.

Orton is scheduled to be arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman on December 29, 2015, at 2:00 p.m.