A Wilbraham, Massachusetts man was sentenced on Mar. 25 in federal court in Springfield for making violent threats on social media against public officials, private individuals, children, and an elementary school.
Funwayo Mbilini Nyawo, also known as Jonathan Funwayo Nyawo, Michael Jacobs, Robert Jacobs, and Carl Fields, age 37, received a sentence of 32 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release from U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni. In July 2025, Nyawo pleaded guilty to thirteen counts of interstate transmission of threatening communications and one count of stalking through facilities of interstate commerce after being indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2025.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, between July 30 and Oct. 1, 2024 Nyawo posted numerous threats on X (formerly Twitter). These messages referenced killing, shooting or bombing public figures and locations such as shopping malls and an elementary school. The threats also called upon Islamic terrorist groups or “holy warriors” to carry out acts of violence.
The targets included an elected United States official and their family; a former United States official and their family; a former member of a Massachusetts police department; two private individuals; local officials with their families; children from Wilbraham and Boston; members of the Wilbraham Police Department and Fire Department with their families; as well as two shopping malls and an elementary school in Springfield.
Between Aug. 17 and Oct. 1, 2024 Nyawo also used X to harass the elected United States official’s spouse, child, child’s spouse and grandchildren.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley said that valuable assistance came from the Wilbraham Police Department, Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and Miami-Dade Police Department during the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow prosecuted the case.