Teen Charged In Relation To Threats Made To JCCs: DOJ

ORLANDO, FL — The Israeli-American teenager who was arrested in March in connection with a series of bomb threats made to Jewish Community Centers was charged on Friday for making threatening calls to JCCs in Florida and other locations in the United States and abroad, conveying false information to police dispatch regarding harm to private residents in Georgia and cyberstalking, the Department of Justice said in a press release.

A federal criminal complaint filed in Orlando alleges Michael Ron David Kadar, 18, made multiple threatening calls involving bomb threats and active shooter threats to numerous JCCs in Florida. The JCC locations targeted in the threats included Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville. The DOJ alleges that Kadar made the threats starting on or about Jan. 4 and continued until March 7.

The federal complaint only contains summaries of threatening calls made to locations in the Middle District of Florida but the complaint alleges that Kadar placed similar threatening calls to locations throughout the United States and abroad on at least 15 different dates. The complaint alleges that Kadar either said that a bomb was located at the building or that someone was coming to commit a mass shooting at the facility.

"Although no actual explosives were found, many of the calls resulted in the temporary closure and evacuation or lockdown of the targeted facilities, and required law enforcement and emergency personnel to respond and clear the area," the DOJ said in a press release.

According to the DOJ, in addition to the threats made to the JCCs, Kadar also made a phone call on or about Jan. 3 to police conveying an "alleged violent emergency situation" concerning multiple individuals at a private residence in Athens, Georgia. When law enforcement responded to the scene, they found that there was no emergency situation.

The DOJ said that the investigation into threats to Jewish centers and other institutions continues, including an ongoing investigation into potential hate crime charges.

When Kadar was first arrested, a judge had imposed a gag order, forbidding authorities from releasing his name, according to the New York Times. The DOJ said Friday that Kadar took extraordinary steps to conceal his identity online. The complaint states Kadar allegedly used accounts created at a company that provided online call "spoofing" services that allows users to hide true caller identification, disguise the voice of the caller and record the calls. Kadar allegedly used multiple Google Voice accounts and paid for the spoofing services with Bitcoin.

According to the DOJ, Kadar made the following number of calls on the respective dates:

• January 4: 31 calls to facilities throughout the United States and abroad
• January 5: 67 calls to facilities throughout the United States and abroad
• January 9: 52 calls to facilities throughout the United States and abroad
• January 18: 45 calls to facilities throughout the United States and Canada
• February 16: 25 calls to facilities throughout the United States and Canada
• February 20: 14 calls to facilities throughout the United States and Canada
• February 27: 69 calls to facilities throughout the Unites States and Canada

“JCC Association of North America welcomes the announcement by the Department of Justice that charges have been filed against the suspected perpetrator of the overwhelming majority of recent bomb threats to our JCCs and to other Jewish institutions and organizations across the continent," JCC Association of North America President and CEO Doron Krakow said in a statement.

"We take great satisfaction in the determination and leadership shown by Attorney General Sessions and from the DOJ’s and the FBI’s close cooperation and coordination with Israeli law enforcement. As the investigation and pursuit of justice, not only in this case but in the cases of all of the perpetrators of these threats, continue to unfold, we are enormously proud of the extraordinary commitment to safety and security undertaken in JCCs across the United States and Canada each and every day; a commitment that has insured that our JCCs continue to serve our communities with great distinction.”

This is the second arrest in connection with the threats made to JCCs across North America. In early March, a disgraced former journalist was arrested by federal authorities who accused him of making threats to at least eight Jewish organizations, which he allegedly made to harass and intimidate an ex-girlfriend.

This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates.

Image credit: Seth Wenig/Associated Press