FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A man in Colorado who claimed to be a "trained assassin," and said he was a member of an international mafia group, faces federal charges after law enforcement said he made numerous bomb threats over the phone to police stations around the country, according to a federal indictment filed Thursday.
Investigators also said they have reason to believe that Christopher Fassih downloaded child pornography onto his cell phone.
He faces 12 counts, according to a federal indictment, the first 10 counts are all related to alleged phone threats made on July 5. The other two counts are related to child pornography.
According to the criminal complaint, on July 5, the Washington D.C. Metro Police Department's (MPD) 6th District main station received a telephone call from an unknown person stating “I’m going to blow up the station if you don’t give me money in the next 30 minutes.”
It's believed that the call came from Fassih, the complaint says. MPD's 7th District station also received a phone threat that day in which, according to the complaint, the caller stated, "There is a guy in the station and he stole our product. We placed explosives around the station.”
No explosives were found at either location, but MPD determined using phone records that the call came from Fassih, the complaint says. The phone number was connected to an address in Ohio, but location services indicated that the calls originated from a hotel in Denver.
Detectives with MPD began communicating with Fassih by text and phone call, and according to the complaint, Fassih said he was "part of an international mafia group" but wanted to leave the group because he believed members of the group would kill him.
According to the complaint, he also told MPD detectives he had downloaded child pornography.
During a call with an MPD detective, Fassih said he made "over 60 calls" to law enforcement across the country and that it was his goal to do "extreme things" to make himself an "enemy of the United States," the complaint says.
Fassih told the detective during the call that he was outside the police department in Fort Collins and the detective urged him to go inside and turn himself in.
The next day on July 6, an MPD detective again called Fassih, and shortly after that call, the complaint says, Fassih was contacted by a Fort Collins Police officer just outside of the department. According to the complaint, Fassih stated he "wanted to help" and "wished to turn himself in."
He told the Fort Collins detective that he was a "trained assassin" for an international mafia, the complaint says. He went on to explain that he believed he would only be safe from the group in the supermax prison in Florence, according to the complaint.
Fassih said he was "not a violent person" and was attempting to commit crimes that "would not hurt anyone," the complaint says.
According to the complaint, Fassih was placed on a mental health hold at a Fort Collins area hospital.
Fassih is accused of making similar phone threats to the following police departments on July 5:
- Boston Police Department
- Cleveland Division of Police
- Miami Police Department
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