A man from Arizona was reportedly arrested by the Department of Justice for sending an email threatening to kill a local Rabbi and “every other JEW I can find tonight at midnight of your Sabbath.”
According to federal officials, the FBI obtained an arrest warrant and a federal complaint to justify the arrest of Jeffrey Mindock, 47, of Tempe, on Saturday morning.
According to the lawsuit, Mindock requested in an email that he sent to a local Scottsdale synagogue’s Rabbi on Friday, November 3, 2023, that the Rabbi “try to convince” a Utah judge to “drop the charges against” Mindock in a state district court case.
Federal officials say the email stated: “If you do not use your influence to right this wrong I will execute you and every other JEW [sic] I can find tonight at midnight of your Sabbath.” The email went on to say, “If you wish to communicate with me further, I will only meet in person.” listed an address for the sender in Tempe, and was signed “Shalom, Viktor Sitkevicz.”
“We have no tolerance for those who send threatening communications to Jewish faith leaders or to any other people in America,” said United States Attorney Gary Restaino. “We will continue to exercise our prosecutorial discretion and deploy our resources to charge threats cases here in Arizona.”
According to the complaint, Mindock’s address appeared in motor vehicle records as the same Tempe address as was included in the received email.
According to federal investigators, Mindock is additionally accused in the accusation of having a history of aggressive behaviour.
According to the lawsuit, Mindock threatened to “hang” a judge in an earlier email received from email accounts that contained the words “Sitkevicz” or “Mindock,” and he threatened to “execute” others during a 2021 court appearance.
“The FBI takes all threats of violence seriously,” said Chad Alvarado, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Phoenix field office. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners must take people who make threats at their word and intervene because protecting human life is our absolute priority.”
