John Reardon, Mills, Massachusetts man pleads guilty to threatening members of the Jewish community, bombing synagogues, including leaving 98 messages to the Israeli Consulate in Boston, inciting harassment and intimidation.
A Massachusetts man has pled guilty to threatening to kill members of the Jewish community and bomb local synagogues over the Israel-Hamas war.
John Reardon, 59, of Mills, of Mass. pleaded guilty on Monday to leaving a two-minute voicemail with the Congregation Agudas Achim synagogue, where he threatened to kill children and blow up the temple in January.
‘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,’ US Attorney General Merrick Garland of the US Dept of Justice said in a statement.
Prosecutors said Reardon’s two-minute voicemail referenced Israel’s war in Gaza, which the attorneys said was part of a disturbing trend of antisemitism across the nation over the conflict.
‘You do realize that by supporting genocide that means it’s OK for people to commit genocide against you,’ Reardon told the synagogue on January 25.
Minutes after threatening the Attleboro-based temple, officials said Reardon called another synagogue in Sharon, where he left a voicemail calling for the ‘kill of all Jews’ and ‘stomping their babies dead into the ground,’ according to court documents.
After arresting Reardon on January 29, investigators learned he was behind a series of disturbing calls to the Israeli Consulate in Boston that began after the Oct. 7 massacre, which left 1,200 dead in Israel.
Officials said Reardon called the consulate 98 times following the terrorist attack, making ‘statements intended to harass or intimidate,’ the office up until the day of his arrest.
‘John Reardon now stands convicted of inflicting terror on the Greater Boston Jewish community by threatening violence against fellow residents of Massachusetts solely because of their Jewish faith,’ U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in a statement. ‘This insidious, pernicious conduct must be met with the full force of the criminal justice system to make sure victims and potential offenders alike know that hate crimes and acts of antisemitism will never be tolerated.’
In all, Reardon pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs by threat of force, one count of transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure a person, and one count of stalking using a facility of interstate commerce.
In exchange for the guilty plea, the prosecutor’s office would dismiss the charge of using a facility of interstate commerce to threaten a person or place with harm via an explosive.
‘John Reardon now stands convicted of inflicting terror on the greater Boston Jewish community by threatening violence against fellow residents of Massachusetts solely because of their Jewish faith,’ said acting US Attorney Joshua S. Levy.
Jodi Cohen, the special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Field Office, said the guilty plea sends a message that ‘you cannot call and threaten people with violent physical harm and not face repercussions.’
‘People of all races and faiths deserve to feel safe in their communities,’ she said.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors would seek 30 months in federal prison, three years of supervised release and an undetermined fine of a significantly less than the maximum penalty of $250,000.
Reardon had faced up to 20 years in federal prison, Metrowest Daily News reported.
US District Judge Julia Kobick set Reardon’s sentencing for Aug. 14.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza, there has been a sharp rise in incidents of harassment and claims of bias against both Jewish and Muslim communities.
