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Man arrested after allegedly threatening TV station he can't watch
[December 13, 2012]

Man arrested after allegedly threatening TV station he can't watch


Dec 13, 2012 (Mail Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A man apparently upset that he couldn't watch local Fox programming from his satellite provider has been arrested on suspicion of making threats to blow up the Fox 26 KMVU station in Medford and shoot a specific employee there.



Jeffrey Alan Sebastian, 47, of Williams, was arrested Wednesday with assistance from the Oregon State Police on three charges of attempted coercion and three counts of harassment, Medford police said in a press release.

On Monday, Dec. 3, Medford police were notified of three separate threats Sebastian allegedly left as voicemail messages at the station. In the messages, the caller said he was upset about Fox no longer being available through the television service he subscribed to and threatened to blow up the building and to shoot a specific employee.


DISH Network of Englewood, Colo., and Northwest Broadcasting, the parent company of the local Fox affiliate, failed to negotiate a deal last month, leading to a black-out of the local station on the nation's second-largest satellite programmer.

Officers didn't find any explosive devices at the station's offices on Crater Lake Avenue. During the investigation, police determined that the three phone calls came from Sebastian's address in Williams.

Sebastian was arrested at his home Wednesday without incident, police said. Officers seized one firearm from his home.

Sebastian was lodged in the Jackson County Jail, where he remains today on $28,000 bail.

-- Mandy Valencia ___ (c)2012 the Mail Tribune (Medford, Ore.) Visit the Mail Tribune (Medford, Ore.) at www.mailtribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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