By Dan Morse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Police are investigating three threatening telephone calls received by an immigrant advocacy group in Montgomery County, including a voice-mail message that warned one official that he could be shot for "being stupid and helping illegals."

The group, CASA of Maryland, plans to hold a news conference today to draw attention to the calls, received May 18, which CASA has reported to the police in Montgomery and the District.

Officials at those agencies declined to provide details of their investigations yesterday. Montgomery police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said detectives were investigating the matter.

All three calls used similar language, stating that CASA officials should not be surprised if their buildings are blown up or if they are hurt.

"I took this seriously from the first time I heard it," said the Rev. Simón Bautista, vice president of CASA's board of directors, who received one of the calls.

CASA spokesman Mario Quiroz said, "Our hope is that this is nothing more than somebody on a Sunday afternoon who felt better after calling, who got some kind of catharsis."

CASA of Maryland runs five Maryland day-labor centers where workers can gather while waiting to be picked up for jobs. The centers in Montgomery have generally avoided the level of controversy that has affected some facilities, particularly in Herndon.

But last year, a fire was set at a CASA day-labor center just outside Gaithersburg, causing about $2,000 in damage. No one has been charged in the case, said Pete Piringer, spokesman for the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.

The group says it regularly receives angry e-mails and occasionally phone calls. On March 6, a caller from Frederick told a CASA supervisor that she was "nothing less than a traitor to the United States," Quiroz said. Three days later, Quiroz received an e-mail calling CASA staffers "parasites" who "should be tried for treason."

The three telephone calls May 18, however, were more explicitly threatening, CASA officials said.

One was left in a voice mail to Bautista on a Washington number he uses for his work as the Latino missioner of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. "Don't be surprised when there's a [expletive] bullet in the back of your [expletive] brain," the caller said, according to a recording made available by CASA staffers.

Another call that day was left as a message on CASA's 800 number. Six of the 19 words were curse words, with the caller saying CASA should not be surprised if somebody blows up one of the group's facilities.

The third call went to Quiroz. He did not record it but told Montgomery police the caller said, "You shouldn't be surprised if your places start blowing up in pieces," according to a police report of the incident.

Quiroz has listened to the other two voice mails and said the voice is similar to the one on the voice mail he received. He said CASA has reported the phone calls to the FBI. An FBI spokesman in Baltimore said he checked with investigators and was not aware of a probe into the calls. A phone call late yesterday to a spokeswoman at the FBI's Washington field office was not immediately returned.

"Everyone has a right to disagree with us," Quiroz said. "Sometimes there's hate going on, and when hate turns to violence, we have a problem."