Man mistakenly ID'd as Hale witness gets threatening calls

A west suburban man has been placed under police guard because heand family members received threatening phone calls after a Web sitemistakenly listed him as a key prosecution witness against whitesupremacist Matthew Hale.

After the Internet listing appeared Monday on a supremacist Website, Anthony Evola of River Grove received at least four threateningor harassing phone calls, police said.

Evola, 62, shares the same name but is not related to prosecutionwitness Anthony Evola, at least 20 years younger, an undercoverinformant who testified during Hale's just-completed trial on murdersolicitation charges.

After 21/2 days of deliberations, 12 jurors, including five blacksand one Hispanic, found the leader of the former World Church of theCreator guilty of soliciting the murder of federal Judge JoanHumphrey Lefkow and of three obstruction of justice charges.

The telephone calls to Evola's home began Monday after Hale wasconvicted of murder-solicitation and obstruction of justice. Thecalls prompted River Grove police to station squad cars outside thehome Monday night and Tuesday, Chief Dennis Raucci said, adding heexpects the family to remain under police guard for "a while."

Containing what Raucci described as "veiled threats," the callsbegan after Evola's name, address and home phone number were postedon at least one white supremacist Web site.

"Tony Evola's address & phone -- make a new friend -- get it whileit's hot," the listing said. "In case anyone wants to say hi."

That posting, however, was removed Tuesday, police said.

The FBI, which has jurisdiction in cases involving Internet ortelephone threats, also has been called into the case, a spokesmansaid.

The calls have rattled Evola and his wife, the couple's son saidTuesday. Evola stayed home from his job Tuesday and has been offereda police escort when he returns to work, his son said.

"Both my parents were upset," said 28-year-old Joe Evola. "They'rea little bit stressed."

Family members hadn't been following Hale's trial closely anddidn't realize a witness shared their name until the calls began.

While the listing with Evola's name and address has been removedfrom the site where it initially was posted, Raucci said it's unclearif the information remains on other sites.