YouTuber 'Trashman' charged over threats to poison baby food
Anton Dunn, a New Yorker with a decent following on YouTube for his over-the-top rants, has been arrested after his videos apparently went too far.
A New York man known for stirring up controversy on YouTube was arrested Thursday by federal authorities after allegedly claiming he had instructed Gerber employees to lace baby food with cyanide.
Anton Dunn, a 42-year-old from Manhattan who goes by "Trashman" on YouTube, has a moderate following on the video site, but probably not for the right reasons. Earlier this year, some of the tabloid press picked up on a video he posted in which he claimed to have purposely infected more than 1,500 women with the AIDS virus. He has also claimed to have killed two people.
Some found his videos funny, but others were offended and plenty of "response" videos pepper the site.
Then, in a series of videos from April to July, he allegedly detailed the workings of a plan to poison Gerber products, which ultimately resulted in his arrest. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Dunn is charged with sending threats in interstate commerce and falsely claiming to have tampered with a consumer product. The charges could result in up to 10 years in prison or heavy fines.
Critics will likely say it's a case of authorities overreacting to a case of over-the-top, look-at-me comedy. But the Trashman videos, in which Dunn wears masks to disguise his identity and rants in a humorless tone, don't look like they were made to make people laugh.
Other YouTube members quickly posted videos of local news reports detailing his arrest.