New York

A California man was arrested and charged for making threats against Merriam-Webster, Inc.

According to the complaint, between October 2 and October 8, 2021, the defendant made a series of threatening messages and comments. The threats corresponded to the word entries for “Girl” and “Woman.” The threats led Merriam-Webster to close its offices in Springfield, Massachusetts and New York City for about five days.

The complaint says that on October 2, 2021, the defendant began posting threatening comments. Comments suggested that Merriam-Webster’s “headquarters should be shot up and bombed.” On October 8, 2021, he posted another comment on the dictionary’s website threatening to bomb their offices.

The same online user made similar threats to several others, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Land O’ Lakes, Hasbro, Inc., IGN Entertainment, the President of the University of North Texas, two professors at Loyola Marymount University, and a New York rabbi.

Charges contained in a criminal complaint are serious. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/california-man-arrested-and-charged-making-threats-against-lgbtq-community

In November 2019, a woman, who is Jewish, began receiving numerous threatening text messages, voicemails and Facebook posts. In several text messages and voicemails, which continued until June 2020, the defendant threatened to murder and seriously injure the woman. He also threatened to blow up her house and car. Some of the threatening text messages contained anti-Semitic references to the Holocaust.

On December 23, 2019, the first day of Hannukah, the defendant sent the woman a message that included the words “Suns about to go down. It would be a shame if your house were used to light the menorah. Or turned in a gas chamber.” On April 8, 2020, the first day of Passover, he wrote “I’m going to kill you. You better be gone because if you’re in [the victim’s housing community] Easter weekend I’m going to stick you in an oven. Or I’m going to shoot you . . . . I should send you to a concentration camp.”

On June 26, 2020, only a few hours before the defendant was located and arrested by the FBI, the defendant left the victim a voicemail message stating, “The police are not going to help you. The courts are not going to help you. . . . I will kill you.”

The FBI investigation identified several other people who had been similarly threatened and harassed by the defendant.

On April 27, 2021, the defendant pled guilty to one count of interference with the right to fair housing, a hate crime, and one count of sending threatening communications. He was sentenced to 36 months of imprisonment, and additional punishment.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/new-york-man-sentenced-3-years-federal-prison-hate-crime-offenses

A New York man was arrested and charged with setting fire to a yeshiva (a Jewish school) and synagogue on May 19, 2021.

He was captured on surveillance video piling and igniting garbage bags next to a Brooklyn building that housed a yeshiva and a synagogue. Hours later, he was captured on surveillance video again, this time repeatedly punching a man wearing traditional Hasidic garb. There was no interaction between the defendant and the victim prior to the assault.

The charge in the complaint is an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, and a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/brooklyn-man-arrested-arson-yeshiva-and-synagogue

A New York Man has been charged by federal criminal complaint with making anti-Semitic death threats to a resident of Stratford, Connecticut.

On December 23, 2019, the first day of Hanukkah, the man began sending the victim, who is Jewish, threatening text messages. In several messages, he threatened to murder or seriously injure the victim. He also threatened to blow up the victim’s house and car. Some of the threatening text messages contained anti-Semitic references to the Holocaust.

The charges, which include a hate crime, carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ct/pr/new-york-man-arrested-hate-crime

A federal grand jury has indicted a New York man with federal hate crimes including willfully causing bodily injury to five victims because of the victims’ religion and for obstructing the free exercise of religion by attempting to kill during Hanukkah observances at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York.

The indictment alleges that on December 28, 2019, the subject was armed with an 18-inch machete and entered a rabbi’s home—adjacent to the rabbi’s synagogue—where dozens had gathered for Hanukkah. There he slashed and stabbed several of the assembled congregants. At least five victims were hospitalized with severe injuries. It is alleged that he targeted and attacked the congregants because of their religion.

Following the attack, he was stopped by members of the New York City Police Department. In the vehicle they saw a machete that appeared to have traces of dried blood on it. After securing warrants, law enforcement searched the subject’s residence and cellphone. The residence contained handwritten journals with several pages of anti-Semitic references, including references to “Adolf Hitler” and “Nazi Culture.” The cellphone contained internet searches for terms such as “Zionist Temples in Staten Island and New Jersey,” “why did Hitler hate the Jews,” and “prominent companies founded by Jews in America.” Also found was a webpage visit on the day of the attack to an article titled, “New York Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here’s What to Know.”

Each count carries a maximum prison term of life.

Press Release: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/orange-county-man-charged-additional-federal-hate-crimes-december-28-2019-machete-attack