A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to prison for antisemitic threats against a public official and false statements to government agents, the Pennsylvania Western District US Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday.
30-year-old Elizabeth resident Edward Arthur Owens Jr. was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by three years supervised release, after his threats to injure a public official and lying to FBI agents about having a licensed pistol in his possession.
“We’re coming for you [emoji of person raising right hand] [German flag emoji] be afraid. Go back to Israel, or better yet, exterminate yourself and save us the trouble. 109 countries for a reason. We will not stop until your kind is nonexistent," Owens said last May in a Facebook message to the public official, referencing the ethnic cleansing justification that Jews were expelled from 109 countries throughout history.
Owens had sent the threats to the public official from a Facebook account operated under a pseudonym because he assumed that the victim was Jewish and supported Israel, according to a May 8 memorandum opinion.
Senior United States District Judge Nora Barry Fischer said before sentencing that the threats caused "real fear and trepidation" for the victim, causing them to change their way of life.
Using the same Facebook pseudonym, Owens commented on another person's post, "Jews have no place in America, go back to Israel.”
The defendant's girlfriend, who broke up with him after questioning by law enforcement, related that he had professed antisemitic views since the beginning of the relationship in 2023, but such opinions had become increasingly verbalized.
Owens' threats utilized a neo-Nazi ideology
Owens also expressed his views to friends. Ten days before sending the public official, he texted a friend that "the US should’ve fought with Germany in WWII [World War Two]. We f***ed up letting them Jews and communists have their way,” and “Look at what the Jews are doing to the world.”
The next day, Owens texted another friend "Heil Hitler."
The same day as the threat to the official, Owens asked a friend if he was "ready to hunt down Jews for extermination," then proceeded to search "Pittsburgh Jews" on Facebook before sending the threat. Later he also searched "NYC (New York City) synagogue" and five days later "dancing Israelis," a reference to a conspiracy theory that Israel agents were involved in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
"So you may not like what I'm about to say but I am 100% against Israel in every aspect. I've been watching the violence unfold in both Ukraine and the West Bank and I really don't see a difference between Israel tactics and Russians," Owens messaged another friend. "They're (Jews)animals, man. Killing everything and everyone in their way. It's just barbarism and I have zero support for any of it. F**k everyone and everything involved in the Middle East conflicts."
Owens had told FBI agents that his registered firearms were with his mother, and not with him. Agents later search his vehicle, finding a pistol registered to him. This led to the false statement charge.
“Nearly 250 years ago, this country fought to establish a foundation of mutual respect and security for every citizen. The threats made by this individual go beyond just hate-fueled words – it is an attack on the very principles of our United States,” FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Richard Evanchec said in a statement. “Hatred and deception have no place here."