Massachusetts man arrested for allegedly threatening Jewish community members and to bomb synagogues

A Massachusetts man was arrested Monday for allegedly threatening to kill members of the state’s Jewish community and a bomb local synagogues, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said.

John Reardon, 59, of Millis, Massachusetts, allegedly called Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleboro, Massachusetts, on Jan. 25 and left a voicemail making several threats to kill congregants and bomb the synagogue, including that “if you can kill the Palestinians, we can kill you,” federal authorities said. Ten minutes later, he allegedly made a call to another local synagogue and a Jewish organization.

Reardon, who had been in the custody of the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office, has been charged with one count of using a facility of interstate commerce to threaten a person or place with harm via an explosive.

Reardon was scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Boston Monday afternoon. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.