The 19-year-old Israeli teen who has been accused of making threats against Jewish community centers in the United States in 2016 and 2017 was indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday.
The teen, who holds dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship and whose identity is sealed by an Israeli court, was arrested in Israel last year after authorities discovered that he allegedly made thousands of threats from his apartment in Ashkelon, a coastal city in Israel.
The threats had affected airports, schools and Jewish centers in the United States in 2016 and early 2017. One threat against a Delta Airlines flight in February 2015 resulted in an emergency landing.
The teen was indicted by grand juries in Florida, Georgia and the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said. The statement did not say whether he would be extradited to the United States.
He allegedly telephoned the Anti-Defamation League with a bomb threat and emailed another such threat to the Israeli embassy in Washington, both in March 2017, the Justice Department said. The indictment also claims that he called police in January 2017 about a hoax hostage situation at a home in Athens, Georgia, which included a threat to kill responding officers.
The indictment also includes charges of "attempting to obstruct the free exercise of religion at the Jewish Community Centers when he made the bomb threats and active shooter threats," the Justice Department said Wednesday. "Although no actual explosives were found, many of the calls resulted in the temporary closure and evacuation or lockdown of the targeted facilities, and required law enforcement and emergency personnel to respond to and clear the area," the statement read.
The hoax threats to the Jewish community centers forced widespread evacuations and raised fears of a resurgence in anti-Semitism. U.S. authorities have said in court documents that the suspect advertised his services on AlphaBay, a now-closed online black market, and offered to threaten any school for $30. The Justice Department shut AlphaBay down in July 2017.
His parents have said he has a brain tumor that caused autism and other mental problems, making him unable to understand the nature of his actions.
If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison for each hate crime charge and a maximum of 10 years for each bomb threat charge.
