Justin Bieber’s life has been threatened again by an inmate of a New Mexico prison. Dana Martin sent an image of the singer with a shooting target on his forehead to a news reporter. The state’s Department of Corrections has admitted it should have been monitoring Martin’s outgoing mail more closely.
For those who wonder why Justin Bieber needs bodyguards. Quite apart from over-familiar fans and aggressive paparazzi, past and present death threats make the superstar’s security team very necessary.
Dana Martin, a long-serving inmate in a New Mexico prison, who previously plotted to have Bieber castrated and strangled, managed to post a picture of the star with a shooting target on his forehead to news reporter Laura Thoren at Albuquerque’s ABC Action 7 station this week.
In a chilling move echoing Anthony Hopkin’s turn as serial killer Hannibal Lecter, who formed a sick communication with someone on the outside, Martin attached the following message to the image:
“Laura – Here’s a picture to remember me by. Dana Martin ‘Bieber Fever.’”
Back in 2012, Martin – who is currently serving a 35 years to life sentence without parole for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in 2000 – was recorded on a prison telephone call telling two hitmen to castrate and strangle Bieber with a tie.
“Tie it really tight, and that cuts off all the oxygen,” Martin told the men during that call. “Then tie it in the back again, really tight. That seals the deal.”
The hit was to take place during Bieber’s two Madison Square Garden concerts in November 2012. It was foiled when an ex-inmate Martin had groomed for the grotesque task was picked up with an accomplice on November 19 at the US-Canada border crossing.
Our full report on his 2012 plot can be read here .
After the call was heard by prison authorities, New Mexico’s Department of Corrections said Martin was immediately put in solitary confinement.
Martin followed up that threat with a second in March 2013 , in which he sent a letter to a TV station saying he’d hired a hitman to place a bomb at one of Bieber’s upcoming shows and intended to “kill everyone on stage and quite a few in the audience.”
After both threats, officials said Martin’s phone call privileges were revoked and his mail from that point on would be reviewed and monitored.
However, since then, the new Bieber threat was posted to Thoren.
Of Martin’s latest threat, the Department of Corrections Public Affair’s spokesperson, Alex Tomlin, told Action 7 :
“We’ll own up to the fact that his [Martin’s] mail was supposed to be monitored… we’re going to make sure that it is from now on.”
The department admits a “mistake” was made, adding: “We take any threat seriously, and we will investigate any threat.”
It’s believed Martin found an opportunity to mail his disturbing Bieber-picture when he was recently moved to a new prison.
Corrections officials said that the “new prison was not aware every single piece of Martin’s mail was to be monitored.”
As of now, the bullseye picture is under investigation by the department, which has said it may forward it to authorities and punish Martin if necessary.
Meanwhile, Bieber was papped taking an early morning hike in Los Angeles on Tuesday (August 19), after his new Hollywood Hills rental address became publicly known.
[ Images via X17.com ].