Norwegian Man Who Threatened Portland Police Sentenced

A Norwegian man who threatened police in Portland is headed to prison.

The Portland Press Herald reports 29-year-old Espen Brungodt was sentenced Thursday to 15 months in prison for making threatening interstate communications. The charges stemmed from an incident last summer in which Brungodt posted tweets and sent emails to the department, threatening to kill Portland Police Officers. He pleaded guilty in September.

Portland went on high alert, with the Courthouse and a parking garage evacuated because of their proximity to the Police Department and because they were mentioned in the communications from Brungodt. Those threats were taken very seriously, partly because they came on the heels of police shootings in Louisiana and Texas.

Experts say that Brungodt suffers from a mental illness that caused him to obsess about the desire to be arrested in the United States. He indicated to police that he felt satisfied with their response, as he watched the activity on the streets from his hotel room.

Brungodt may be transferred to Norway to serve his sentence, if he files for a transfer. Officials say if he decides to serve out his sentence in the U.S., he will be deported immediately upon his release and barred from returning.