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Threatening Social Workers

September 8, 2010 permalink

Anthony J Gambino
Anthony J Gambino

Kentucky father Anthony J Gambino has been indicted for leaving threatening phone messages for the social workers who took his two daughters.

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Man accused of allegedly threatening social workers

An Elizabethtown man was indicted Tuesday for allegedly threatening state social service workers in Hardin County through a series of telephone calls last year.

The indictment against Anthony J. Gambino, 45, was returned by a federal grand jury in Louisville. It accuses him of threatening various state workers with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in 12 telephone calls placed from out-of-state locations.

The alleged threats were made between Nov. 17 and Nov. 24 on voice mail messages, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Louisville.

Gambino made graphic threats laced with profanity, telling various workers that they would be shot or have their throats cut, the indictment said. It said Gambino told one worker he had people ready to “whack you” and another “tomorrow you die.”

In one call, he simply said, “Bang, you’re dead,’’ the indictment said. It said Gambino threatened two workers with death “by lead poisoning” in another call.

The indictment doesn’t describe Gambino’s connection to state social services. But in several interviews before the alleged threats were made, he told The Courier-Journal that he believed social workers had wrongly taken his two young daughters while he was living temporarily in Hardin County and placed them in foster care.

Gambino told the newspaper that the two girls had been taken from him in June 2008, and that he feared state officials were pushing to terminate his parental rights and place them for adoption.

Gambino could not be reached Tuesday. His former telephone number is not in service.

Vikki Franklin, a cabinet spokeswoman, said officials had no comment on the criminal case, which was investigated by the FBI.

Each count of the 12-count indictment carries a maximum charge of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Source: Louisville Courier-Journal

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