Animal rights activist targeted by threatening, vulgar voice messages

BLACKBERRY TOWNSHIP – The words left in the voice mail left little for interpretation: “If you want to keep living, shut your (expletive) mouth. If you don’t want to continue living, keep talking. … Might just blow up…”

Other messages include the sounds of a gun being cocked, gunshots, racial slurs and obscenities.

Blackberry Township resident Steve Hindi, founder of Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, reported six threatening and obscene voice mail messages to the Kane County Sheriff’s Office, believing them to be related to the group’s recent shut down of four cockfighting rings in Kentucky.

The Kane County Chronicle does not identify crime victims unless they choose to be identified.

“These people – they live in their own little bubble. Even though they are committing crimes, they tell themselves they are great patriots. They have the American flag and the Confederate flag up at these things,” Hindi said. “It’s incredible for people who are fixated on watching two birds peck each other to death with razor blades and gaffs on them. These are some of the sickest, most twisted people in society – and very dangerous."

According to sheriff’s reports, the threatening messages were reported on July 27 and he provided the recordings from the same male voice to deputies.

The deputy called the number – and the man answering let loose a similar stream of obscene invective at the deputy, reports stated.

“For approximately four minutes, I listened to him. I tried to tell him again who I was and my reason for calling, but he told me to go (expletive) myself,” the report stated. “I began to talk again, and every time I would talk, he’d say ‘(expletive) you.’ I did recognize his voice to be the same one in the recording.”

Deputies used technology to find that the number the caller used belongs to Verizon Wireless, the report stated.

The deputy completed a grand jury subpoena request for records and sent it to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office for approval, the report stated.

Hindi said he also reported the threatening messages to the FBI.

This is not the first time Hindi and his organization were targeted by threatening phone calls.

When his videos exposed cruelty at rodeo events, he also received threatening messages.