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Well, yes, I'd wager this is his first (and last) federal offense. He is exactly a rookie.

20/20 hindsight.

Of course. However, he had the foresight to use Tor and Guerrilla Mail. That is what doesn't make sense to me.

To be fair, sending from a public WiFi spot is relatively benign in general. From released data, it's only because he was on campus that they caught him. If he had done it from a random McDonalds in New Jersey, he'd have been fine.

And, for all we know, if he simply didn't say anything, he'd have been OK, too. The only evidence in the affidavit besides his confession is "he used Tor".