Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — A Niles man has pleaded guilty to one federal count of interstate communication of threats, and for it received two years probation and was assessed a $100 special fee.

In a video conference this week, federal Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. ordered Caleb Hall, 25, to serve the first four months of his probation on electronic monitoring at the discretion of the probation officer. A fine was waived.

Hall, who listed a Stanton Avenue address, was indicted in September 2020 on a federal charge accusing him of using social media to threaten a family.

According to an FBI affidavit, two people posted comments about a Feb. 9, 2020, shooting in Youngstown and received the following threats over social media:

“… hide your family you (expletive) slob. That (expletive) in your profile is going with you … How’s that … When that (expletive) dumps you, she’ll be at my house before you even get out of the hospital. God I would (sic) to spray his whole family down with an AR. I hope I see this little boy with his family in the park someday. Teach him the lesson he never got from his parents.”

A woman also found the following message on her social media:

“Hide you husband, you ugly (expletive). Here I come.”

A federal grand jury sought phone records and traced the threats to a cellphone owned by and registered to Hall, the complaint states.

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