Dorchester man accused of threatening Unemployment Assistance office

BOSTON — A Dorchester man with a history of assault charges dating back to 1985 is accused of making violent threats over the phone directed toward Department of Unemployment Assistance personnel, the district attorney said.

Kerry Kelly, 58, is charged with one count of threatening to commit a crime and one count of bomb or hijack threat, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement on Thursday.

Kelly currently has an open case for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a victim over 60 in the Dorchester Boston Municipal Court, Hayden said.

Judge James Stanton revoked Kelly’s bail on the open case for 60 days and set $5,000 bail for the new charges, Hayden said. He also ordered Kelly to stay away from the Department of Unemployment Assistance.

On Feb. 17, an employee from the Department of Unemployment Assistance at 100 Cambridge St. in Boston contacted police to report that a man had made a threatening phone call to the agency while seeking information about his unemployment payment.

The caller, later identified as Kelly, allegedly told the employee that he was going to go “down there with a gun” if he was unable to collect his payment, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors allege Kelly then repeated the threat, stating, “You know what’s going to happen? You can record this (expletive). I’m going to go down there next week, I got an appointment, if they don’t got my (expletive) money I’m going to go down there with a gun. So you can put that on the recording. I’m (expletive) sick of ya’ll.”

Officers issued an arrest warrant for Kelly after listening to a recording of the call, Hayden said.

“The facts here point to frightening threats made to government employees who work every day with the public,” Hayden said. “Whether this man had any intention of following up on these threats is not relevant. We’ve seen too many mass violence incidents rooted in anti-government anger not to take such threats seriously.”

Kelly is due back in court on March 23 for a probable cause hearing.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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