Dorchester man charged with threatening Department of Unemployment Assistance office
BOSTON, February 26, 2026, – A Dorchester man with a history of assault charges dating back to 1985 was arraigned in BMC Central yesterday for violent threats over the phone directed toward Department of Unemployment Assistance personnel, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.
KERRY KELLY, 58, is charged with one count of threatening to commit a crime and one count of bomb or hijack threat. Kelly currently has an open case for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a victim over 60 out of Dorchester BMC. Judge James Stanton revoked Kelly’s bail on the open case for 60 days and set $5,000 bail for the new charges. He also ordered Kelly to stay away from the Department of Unemployment Assistance. Kelly will return to court March 23 for a probable cause hearing.
On February 17, an employee from the Department of Unemployment Assistance located at 100 Cambridge Street in Boston contacted police to report that a man had made a threatening phone call to the agency while seeking information about his unemployment payment. The caller, later identified as Kelly, told the employee that he was going to go “down there with a gun” if he was unable to collect his payment. Kelly then repeated the threat, stating, “you know what’s going to happen? You can record this (expletive). I’m going to go down there next week, I got an appointment, if they don’t got my (expletive) money I’m going to go down there with a gun. So you can put that on the recording. I’m (expletive) sick of ya’ll.”
Officers issued an arrest warrant for Kelly after listening to a recording of the call.
“The facts here point to frightening threats made to government employees who work every day with the public. Whether this man had any intention of following up on these threats is not relevant. We’ve seen too many mass violence incidents rooted in anti-government anger not to take such threats seriously,” Hayden said.
All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. Our office handles more than 20,000 cases a year. Nearly 160 assistant district attorneys practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Boston and Chelsea Juvenile Courts and the Supreme Judicial Court. Our office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs for anyone encountering the criminal justice system. We are committed to educating the public about our mission and services while focusing on crime prevention to keep the residents, workers and visitors of Suffolk County safe.
James Borghesani, Chief of Communications