MIAMI – A man was expected to plead guilty in Florida to a federal charge of threatening over the Internet to stage a Virginia Tech-style massacre, according to court documents filed Tuesday by prosecutors.
Calin Chi Wong, 20, was to plead guilty to a single Internet threat charge Wednesday. His attorney did not immediately respond to e-mail and phone messages seeking comment.
Wong, a U.S. citizen whose parents run a Chinese restaurant, was arrested in April by federal authorities after allegedly threatening an attack similar to the one carried out by last year by Seung-Hui Cho, a South Korean immigrant whose rampage on the Virginia university campus left 32 people dead. Cho killed himself after the massacre.
According to the FBI, Wong made the threats on a firearms chat room called AR15.com on March 25. He referred in one chat to Cho, authorities said.
"As we all know around a year ago this guy named Cho shot up virginia tech because no one believed him," Wong said in the chat, according to an FBI transcript. "I'm soon to the point to reenact the whole thing."
Wong has been held in prison without bail since his arrest.
He faces up to six months in prison, although prosecutors said they would recommend a lighter sentence and probation. Wong will be forced to forfeit a large collection of weapons and ammunition he possessed when he was arrested, according to court documents.
He later added: "I feel there is no choice out of this other than what cho did."
Among weapons Wong must forfeit include four AK-47 assault rifles, seven handguns, a sniper rifle with scope and 132 ammunition magazines. There was no evidence released by the FBI that Wong ever went beyond the chat room comments to plan any attacks.
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