A Pittsburgh-area man pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court to making an antisemitic threat against a local public official.
Edward Arthur Owens Jr., 30, of Elizabeth, Pa., admitted to making a threat to injure a local public official and making false statements to government agents, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Owens used a social media app to tell the unnamed official that he should “go back to Israel or better yet, exterminate yourself and save us the trouble.”
The message also said, “We will not stop until your kind is nonexistent” and used the phrase “109 countries.” The Justice Department said the latter was used by antisemites to claim that Jews have been expelled from 109 countries and to call for their continued expulsion.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle following Owens’ arrest, the unnamed official cited the murder of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C., following an American Jewish Committee event.
“Public discourse needs to change, because threats of violence are not acceptable in our society,” the official said. “Who wants to live in a country where people want to execute each other? And it’s happening, like at that AJC event—the perpetrator wanted to kill Jews. And, you know, he was successful. Who wants to live in a society where that happens?”
The false statement charge stemmed from Owens telling FBI agents that his mother had his guns and that he didn’t know where they were, nor could he get them. In fact, he had a pistol with him in his car, the Justice Department said.
Sentencing was scheduled for April 13. Owens faces a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or both.
