Teacher Gets Thousands Of Threatening Anti-Gay Emails

[SAN BRUNO, CA] - A high school teacher in northern California has been flooded with threatening emails attacking him for serving as an advisor to his school's Gay Straight Alliance. Over a two-day period Daniel Kiely received more than 2,000 hate-filled messages.

Concerned about the threats and the venom of the attacks, Kiely notified police. Investigators said all of the emails appear to have come from a single address and constitute a hate crime.

The emails came on the tails of an article in the school's newspaper, The Stampede, about the Alliance's activities, said Ron Berggren, the assistant principal at Capuchino High School.

Thomas Mohr, superintendent of the San Mateo Union High School District, said his office is working with the police department on the investigation.

"We're hopeful that we'll identify the person who sent the messages to the teacher," said Mohr. "We have a mutual respect policy and won't tolerate any form of harassment."

Police are trying to determine if the sender is a student at the school. Capt. Neil Telford of the San Bruno Police Department said that the "unlawful use of an electronic communication device with the intent to annoy a person," is a crime under state law. He said the department would seek a hate-crime enhancement with the charge.