A man has pleaded guilty to leaving voicemails threatening violence at two Massachusetts synagogues this January, federal prosecutors said Monday.
John Reardon, a 59-year-old from Millis, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston Monday to three charges: obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs by threat of force, transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure a person and using a facility of interstate commerce, the Department of Justice said.
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He was arrested Jan. 29, four days after leaving the threatening voicemails at Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleborough and a second synagogue in Sharon. Investigators later learned that he'd called Israel's consulate in Boston 98 times between Oct. 7, 2023, and the day of his arrest, in many cases making harassing or intimidating statements, prosecutors said.
"This defendant's threats to bomb synagogues and kill Jewish children stoked fear in the hearts of congregants at a time when Jews are already facing a disturbing increase in threats," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "No person and no community in this country should have to live in fear of hate-fueled violence."
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Reardon faces up to 20 years in prison for obstructing free exercise of religious beliefs by threat of force, the longest sentence carried by the charges he admitted, according to prosecutors. They didn't say what date he will be sentenced.
In the message to Congregation Agudas Achim, prosecutors have said, Reardon referred to the war in Gaza, including demands to "end the genocide" as well as references to killing children and bombing places of worship.
Reports of antisemitic incidents had been increasing in Massachusetts since before the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which recorded a 41% rise in a report released March of 2023. Since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that set off the war on the Gaza Strip, the ADL reports what it describes as a "shocking rise" in antisemitic incidents across the country.
