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Bomb threat over Fox 26 blackout spurs arrestDec 14, 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 KMVU Fox 26 station in Medford and shoot a specific employee there. Jeffrey Alan Sebastian, 47, of Williams, was arrested Wednesday with assistance from Oregon State Police on three charges of attempted coercion and three counts of harassment, Medford police said in a news release. On Dec. 3, Medford police were notified of three separate threats left as voice-mail 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 an employee. KMVU Fox 26 producers declined to comment Thursday. 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 blackout of Fox programming for the nation's second-largest satellite television provider. 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, the release said. 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 on $28,000 bail. But it wasn't all bad for him: he can watch Fox programs on the jail's TV sets. ___ (c)2012 the Mail Tribune (Medford, Ore.) Visit the Mail Tribune (Medford, Ore.) at www.mailtribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |