Michael Ron David Kadar, an 18-year-old who is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, was charged for making bomb threats at Jewish Community Centers throughout Florida, the Justice Department announced Friday.
Kadar has also been charged with conveying false information to police about an alleged violent situation in Georgia and cyberstalking the Justice Department, the department said in a press release.
Kadar was recently arrested in Israel, the Justice Department said.
The bomb threats happened between January and March, the Justice Department said, citing a federal criminal complaint filed in Orlando, Fla. The agency said no actual explosives were found, but that the calls resulted in the temporary closure and evacuation or lockdown of certain facilities and required law enforcement and emergency personnel to respond and clear the area.
Kadar’s lawyer has said that his client had a brain tumor, which might affected his behavior, according to the New York Times.
“Today’s charges into these violent threats to Jewish Community Centers and others represent this Department’s commitment to fighting all forms of violent crime,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “These threats of violence instilled terror in Jewish and other communities across this country and our investigation into these acts as possible hate crimes continues.”
The recent wave of threats against JCCs and other facilities across the country, from Alabama to New York, are being investigated by the FBI and DOJ.
