Cameron Patterson, 34, of Newark, N.J., has been indicted on federal charges of making interstate threats after allegedly sending violent emails to a Jewish nonprofit in New York City, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday.
According to federal authorities, Patterson sent three emails on Oct. 6, 2024, threatening physical harm to the unnamed organization. Employees who received the messages contacted law enforcement out of concern for their safety.
As part of the FBI Newark field office investigation, authorities searched Patterson’s iCloud account and allegedly found multiple images depicting or referencing violence, threats of violence and mass shootings, according to the Justice Department.
He faces up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.
Mitch Silber, CEO of the Community Security Initiative in New York, told JNS that the FBI and targeted organization requested that it not be named publicly. Silber said that the organization is “a Jewish nonprofit very involved with the State of Israel.”
Silber also told JNS that material, which the FBI discovered in the defendant’s iCloud account, referenced Hamas. He noted that it was sent on Oct. 6, 2024, a day before the first anniversary of the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attacks.
“I don’t think that’s an accident,” Silber told JNS.
