Guide to committing crimes: Leave name and return address

A Viet man in Virginia was charged Friday with threatening a U.S. official, after he sent a blood-stained letter threatening to decapitate the U.S. Consular Chief in Saigon, reports the AP here.

Phuong Nguyen Le was apparently angry that the consular section had rejected visa for his wife, who is in Vietnam, so he bit off his left thumb, wrote the letter in blood, sent it to his Congressman and included his name and return address.

The AP story as printed in the Washington Times cites the FBI affidavit filed in court:

The affidavit says an intern in (U.S. Rep. Robert C.) Scott‘s office opened the letter, noticed the blood and left it on a desk. Another employee, wearing rubber gloves, picked up the letter and read it aloud. The letter included Mr. Le’s name and return address.

The agent wrote that he interviewed Le, who “admitted writing and sending the letter to Mr. Scott’s office. He reported that Mr. Le said he bit his left thumb and signed the letter in blood.”

According to the affidavit, Mr. Le’s letter threatened, “Something more beautiful than VA Tech years ago” and called Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho a “young hero.” Cho killed 32 people before committing suicide, leaving his motive a mystery.

. . . .

The agent also asked Mr. Le to explain the part of the letter about Virginia Tech.

“Le stated that the Virginia Tech shooter didn’t tell anybody, but Le was telling people now. Le stated that he was capable of being like the young hero at Virginia Tech,” Mr. Brozick wrote.

If convicted, Le, who worked for the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, faces up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised probation.