A federal jury in Tampa convicted Lawrence Brunn, 63, of Oakmont, Pennsylvania, on one count of cyber harassment under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A for directing sustained death threats against John Couris, the chief executive officer of Tampa General Hospital [1]. The prosecution, brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida, proceeded on allegations that Brunn's conduct constituted a continuous course of harassment carried out through online communications targeting a named executive [1][2].
Evidence at trial showed that Brunn began sending online threats calling for Couris's beheading no later than 2022 and extended the campaign beyond digital channels by mailing threatening materials to the CEO's home and to neighboring residences [1][2]. Prosecutors presented the pattern of conduct as a deliberate, multi-year effort to place Couris in fear of death or serious bodily harm, satisfying the elements of the federal stalking-harassment statute [1].
Brunn faces a statutory maximum of five years in federal prison on the single count of conviction [1]. No sentencing date has been publicly announced. The verdict was returned June 5, 2026 [1].
The case drew attention in part because it was prosecuted during a period of heightened concern about threats directed at healthcare executives following the December 2024 murder of a UnitedHealthcare chief executive [2]. Federal prosecutors in the Middle District of Florida signaled through the prosecution that sustained online harassment campaigns, even those originating outside the district, fall within the reach of the federal cyber-stalking statute when the targeted individual is located in the jurisdiction [1][2].
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