A couple of days ago, I would have never dreamed I would be writing this diary. Several years ago, I worked for Duramed Pharmaceuticals, now Barr Pharma. I was a women's health sales representative. I sold, among other things, Plan B, an emergency oral contraceptive used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure. It's also known as "the morning after pill."
There was quite a big of publicity and controversy about Plan B around the time of the launch. Some confused Plan B with Mifeprex (or RU-486), the "abortion pill." Others were just conception purists. My company, anticipating problems for its reps, took steps to protect us from any potential danger that may result from the controversy including issuing new business cards without home addresses and personal phone numbers as well as creating promotional material that did not scream Plan B on the front covers. I thought this would be sufficient. I was wrong.
Shortly after the drug launch, I began receiving threats. It started with threatening notes on my car and pictures of dead fetuses. Next came the emails. I notified my company, of course, and they passed the information on to law enforcement. Although I was somewhat unnerved, I never really took these seriously.
I never took the threats seriously until I started receiving them at home. I received death threats by phone and by mail. All included the term "baby killer" and said that I would die within some period of time. I received bomb threats and morbid gifts. One special "gift" I received was a brunette Barbie with its throat cut. That was pretty scary. Not only did it come to my home, but I also have brown hair. The FBI made no fewer than 6 visits to my home to collect these materials.
I had to change my entire life, including getting a concealed carry permit. I installed a video security system. Police officers spent many nights parked in my driveway. It was not a fun time for me.
A couple of the people who made threats were caught and prosecuted. They turned out to be just a couple of complete assholes who got their jollies making other people miserable. They pleaded guilty, were fined and jailed for a bit, and made to pay restitution to me and my company.
The stress ultimately forced me to resign from Duramed and take a position with another company. The threats eventually stopped and I began to live a normal life again. Until yesterday.
I received another threating letter in the mail, the first in a few years, which read "You will die tomorrow." These threats unnerved and angered me years ago. This time was different. I have a child now. A 4 year old little boy. The thought of him being injured because someone is targeting me absolutely terrifies me.
I immediately called law enforcement and sent my son to be with my parents out of town. I'm married to a musician. When his band is not touring we spend most our time in east TN to be near our families, but also have a home in Las Vegas. I'm lucky in that I job share and we are able to also spend time there when we want. We are planning to head back as soon as we can make all the arrangements, pack up the pooties and leave.
When the agent arrived yesterday afternoon, I apologized for once again having to call him to my home. I actually felt a bit guilty. I'd received many threats before and none turned out to be valid. This one will probably just turn out to be from another idiot off his meds.
The agent's response, which is actually the point of this diary, was that I should never take a threat lightly. I should assume any threat is serious until proven otherwise. They do.
I know we are in a heated political season. Some people get heated about sensitive political topics. I just ask that if you ever receive a threat of physical harm, PLEASE TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. You may think that it's just an empty threat from some mouthy moron. And you're probably right. But please just be aware that there are some real batshit crazy people out there. Law enforcement would rather deal with 1000 empty threats than 1 real one from a lunatic hell bent on causing you harm.