Des Moines man convicted of Internet threats against Boeing, Chevron, Shell

A U.S. District Court jury convicted a 47-year-old Des Moines man Friday of 19 felony counts in connection with threats he made against the Boeing Co., Shell Oil and Chevron Oil.

Gino Augustus Turrella, a former Boeing employee, was convicted of two counts of making interstate communications with threat to injure a person, seven counts of making threat by instrument of interstate commerce, one count of possessing a firearm during threats of violence, and nine counts of identity theft, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office media release.

The jury deliberated about five hours following a four-day jury trial in front of U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour.

Turrella faces a sentence of five to 10 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 19.

Turrella was arrested in August 2008 in a store parking lot in Tukwila.

In the e-mails that he transmitted to Boeing, Turrella threatened to bring a gun into a Boeing facility and shoot employees. Turrella posed as one of his former managers at Boeing when he made the threat.

In an e-mail he posted to the Anacortes oil refinery Web site, and to the Richmond, Calif., Chevron Oil refinery Web site, he stated that “a bomb was placed at a strategic location at the oil refinery” and that he was “going to set if off via remote control” so that it “will kill the most of your employees and do the most destruction to your refinery.”

Prosecutors were able to show that Turrella’s laptop contained evidence linking him to the e-mail accounts used to send the threats. They also showed that the laptop had been logged on to the wireless networks at the King County Library or Highline Community College when the threatening communications were transmitted.

The case was investigated by the FBI, Auburn Police and the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.