Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) – A Massachusetts man pleaded guilty on Monday to threats to kill Jews and bomb a synagogue, and U.S. prosecutors said the case reflected a growing trend across the country after the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began last year.
John Reardon during a hearing in Boston federal court pleaded guilty to threatening to bomb Congregation Agudas Achim and threatening to kill children in a voicemail he left with the Attleboro, Massachusetts-based synagogue in January.
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He was charged at a time when the US Attorney General Merrick Garland called the “extraordinary” increase in threats against Jews and Jewish organizations since October 7, 2023, the attack by Hamas killed some 1,200 Israelis and caused a war in Gaza.
Israel’s 13-month campaign in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 people and displaced nearly all at once, according to Gaza officials.
Prosecutors said during his two-minute voicemail, Reardon, 59, said: “if you can kill Palestinians we can kill you,” and that “you know that by supporting killing people it means it’s okay for people to destroy you. .”
That same day, Reardon called a synagogue in the county and left a voicemail threatening to “kill all the Jews” and trample their dead babies into the ground,” according to charging documents.
He pleaded guilty to making threats over those calls as well as to a charge of persuasion in connection with three months of electronic communications that caused emotional distress to staff at the Israeli embassy in Boston.
He was arrested in January by local police following his calls to synagogues, and prosecutors filed charges shortly thereafter.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to recommend that Reardon, of Millis, Massachusetts, be sentenced to up to 2-1/2 years in prison. US District Judge Julia Kobick issued her ruling on Aug. 14.
Reardon’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio)