A Massachusetts man is jailed in Oakland County after being extradited on felony charges for allegedly sending emails threatening Bloomfield Township Treasurer Michael Schostak, accusing him of being affiliated with the Hamas terrorist organization, child exploitation and more.
Along with Schostak, more than 190 others received the emails with the accusations and threats, sent between July and October of this year, according to the Bloomfield Township Police Department. Recipients included the local official’s family and children’s school.
Schostak said he initially ignored the emails but said he later went to police when they targeted his children and others.
Arraigned Dec. 20 on using a computer to commit a crime and unlawful posting of message, Marc Aisen, 47, of Marblehead, Massachusetts is in the Oakland County Jail with bond set at $50,000 cash/surety. If he posts bond, Aisen will be required to remain in Michigan and be monitored by electronic tether.
For now, he’s prohibited from using a computer.
Aisen works part-time at CVS, according to Public Information Officer Nick Soley of the Bloomfield Township Police Department.
Schostak initially ignored the emails but when they escalated and included his family, he filed a complaint, Soley said. That happened in early October, and was followed up by detectives making contact with Aisen that day, ordering him to cease and desist communications with Schostak, his family, friends, colleagues and the other recipients, Soley said.
The harassment continued, Soley said, subsequently resulting in a two-count felony warrant being issued by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office and Aisen’s extradition.
Schostak told The Oakland Press that while people certainly have a right to express disagreement with public officials, it crosses a line when officials’ family members and associates are brought into it.
“As an elected official, I accept the reality of the public disagreeing with some things, but family, friends and especially children are off limits — and should be respected… that should be sacrosanct,” he said.
Schostak further said that “we’re at a point in our country where disagreements have reached a temperature that is untenable… and we must return to a point” where divergent views are shared in an appropriate way.
The emails targeted him with “malicious intent” rather than to express disagreement, he said, adding that he’s never met Aisen and “vehemently denies” the allegations in the emails.
Schostak said the township’s library and historical society, homeowners associations and scores of others were among the email recipients. Police aren’t releasing the name of the school that received the emails but has identified it as a Jewish school.
Aisen’s next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 8 for a preliminary exam before 48th District Judge Kimberly Small.
This is at least the second time since summer that an out-of-state person has been arrested and charged with threatening an Oakland County official. In August, an Indiana man was charged in federal court for allegedly leaving a voicemail threatening harm to an election official in Rochester Hills.
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