Texas man sentenced to 2 years for threatening to execute 3 prominent Jewish rabbis
An Amarillo, Texas man who vowed he would tear the eyes and tongues out, blow the heads off, and kill every rabbi he could find, was sentenced on Thursday to two years in a federal prison for the threats.
Christopher Stephen Brown, who made threats to execute three prominent Jewish rabbis in December 2021, was sent to prison by U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk.
Brown was charged via criminal complaint on Dec. 6, 2021, and indicted later that month. He pleaded guilty in September to making interstate threatening communications, according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton in a Friday news release.
“Making threatening statements intended to instill fear and cause potential physical harm is a serious criminal action with consequences,” said FBI Dallas Acting Special Agent in Charge James J. Dwyer in the news release. “This behavior will not be tolerated, and we will continue working with our law enforcement partners to pursue individuals who espouse violent, antisemitic beliefs and pose a threat to public safety, holding them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
Brown admitted to placing threatening calls to Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish organization that has provided spiritual guidance and assistance to Jewish people since before the Holocaust., according to federal court documents. The organization is headquartered in New York City and maintains more than 3,500 institutions worldwide.
In those calls, federal authorities said Brown stated his name was “Madrikh Obadiah” and threatened to “execute” several rabbinical leaders, identified in court documents as L.S., Y.K., and M.K. Over the course of multiple calls, he vowed he would tear their eyes and tongues out, blow their heads of, and kill every rabbi he could find.
According to court documents, he also sent messages to the organization via their website, calling for death to all Jews and linking to his YouTube channel, which also contained threatening content.
This story was originally published January 20, 2023 at 9:37 AM.
