FBI arrests Maryland man accused of triggering Newsweek reporter’s epilepsy

A man accused of triggering an epileptic seizure of senior Newsweek writer Kurt Eichenwald through a tweet was arrested by the FBI on Friday morning.

The Department of Justice said John Rayne Rivello, 29, of Salisbury, Md., was arrested Friday, according to NBC News 4.

The arrest comes three months after Eichenwald said he suffered a seizure after someone sent him a video clip of a flashing strobe light in an intentional effort to trigger his epilepsy.

A Twitter account called @jew_goldstein — which has since been suspended — responded to Eichenwald with a gif of flashing strobe lights and a message: “You deserve a seizure for that post.”

{mosads}Shortly after, Eichenwald’s account tweeted: “This is his wife, you caused a seizure. I have your information and have called the police to report the assault.”

Eichenwald is known to have epilepsy. He has written that in the past others have unsuccessfully attempted to induce seizures through email.

The incident took place after Eichenwald, an outspoken critic of then-President-elect Donald Trump, faced off with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson in a contentious interview Dec. 15 that quickly went viral.

The following day, Eichenwald wrote in a series of tweets that he would be taking a break from Twitter while working with law enforcement to track down the culprit:

For self-protection, I am taking a short twitter break. I will be spending that time with my lawyers & law enforcement going after 1 of u…

— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) December 16, 2016