Man charged with threatening to decapitate HI rep sent emails to Watchdog

by Malia Zimmerman, Watchdog.org, August 28, 2013

HONOLULU – A former Hawaii resident who talked with Watchdog.org about his threats to decapitate Hawaii U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was scheduled to appear Thursday in a San Diego court.

The resident, Aniruddha Sherbow, was arrested Wednesday in Tijuana, Mexico and charged with transmission of threats in interstate commerce.

A federal arrest warrant was issued after Sherbow sent an extensive email to FBI agents and the media, saying, “I, Aniruddha Sherbow, with the Divine as my witness, do hereby solemnly vow to find Tulsi Gabbard, wheresoever she may be, and to sever her head from her body.”

Gabbard obtained a three-year restraining order against Sherbow in 2011 after she said he threatened and harassed her. At the time, Gabbard was serving on the Honolulu City Council. Gabbard, elected to Congress in 2012, served two tours of combat duty in the Middle East and is a captain in the Hawaii National Guard’s 29th Brigade Combat Team.

Sherbow, who said he has a philosophy degree and is a professional writer, corresponded with Watchdog in a series of emails, referring to Gabbard to as “The Prima Donna” who made him feel “insignificant.”

Sherbow, who goes by the name “Sphinx the writer,” said he had offered to volunteer in Gabbard’s council office writing press releases and other correspondence.

In one of his emails, Sherbow wrote: “I was never actually served with the restraining order. There was no bail and no case. Thrown out. I actually took Tulsi to task about her lack of responsiveness, which many people have complained about. But she couldn’t say that, so she made it sound like I threatened her.”

Sherbow said he felt compelled to contact Gabbard initially because “he was born into the same obscure Western-Hindu tradition as Tulsi, the Hare Krishna Movement, also known as the Brahma Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya.”

He wrote: “Because of this last connection, I think she is counting on me not hurting her. And she is right to count on it, because it is in fact very difficult for me to hurt her. However, we all have our limits, and I have reached mine. At this point, if you stuck Tulsi’s head in front of me, I’d have it off in two seconds flat. … I hoped the whole thing might have some good ending somehow, but I’m not seeing one.”

Gabbard has not commented on Sherbow’s recent threats against her or his capture, but her office issued a statement saying “the congresswoman is grateful for the work of the U.S. Capitol Police, FBI, and all law enforcement officers involved in this investigation.”

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