A Canadian man is facing more than two dozen charges for allegedly making online threats to numerous Boston locations, including Boston Children's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Boston Public Library, the Prudential Center and the Orpheum Theater.
Boston police said Monday that Joshua Kimble, 42, of Peterborough, Ontario, has been charged in Canada with 12 counts of public mischief, 12 counts of false information and one count of failing to comply with a probation order as part of a joint investigation with the FBI, the Suffolk District Attorney's Office and Canadian police.
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Beginning on Sept. 9, Boston police said a series of bomb threats were transmitted online to Boston Children's Hospital. Over the next four days, they said additional bomb threats were received by the Prudential Center, the Orpheum Theater, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Boton Public Library.
All of the threats shared similar details and appeared to have originated in Canada, investigators were able to determine.
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On Sept. 13, Boston police said they shared their findings with the Peterborough Police Service in Canada and were able to identify Kimble as the suspect. Police in Canada applied for and were granted an arrest warrant and a search warrant for his residence.
He was arrested on Sept. 26 and is currently in custody awaiting trial in Canada.
The Sept. 9 Boston Children's Hospital threat was the second received by the hospital within a two week span. On Aug. 30, an anonymous bomb threat set off a lockdown at the hospital while a bomb squad canvassed the building.
A Massachusetts woman has been charged in connection with the first threat.
Boston Children's Hospital has been dealing with a spate of threats in recent months focused on its Gender Multispeciality Service program, which offers gender-affirming care to children. The hospital warned its staff about the campaign, which federal agents started monitoring in August. Some of the threats stem from misinformation posted online about the nature of the procedures performed and a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that has surfaced in recent years.
Some phone calls and emails have threatened violence against doctors and staff, and the hospital said in a statement posted to social media earlier this year, "We are deeply concerned by these attacks on our clinicians and staff fueled by misinformation and a lack of understanding and respect for our transgender community."
Boston Children's is not the only hospital to experience these types of online harassment and threats, according to an NBC News report earlier this year. That report noted social media attacks against other children's hospitals in Omaha, Nebraska and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
