A Millis man was sentenced to prison for threatening to kill Jewish people and blow up synagogues with bombs, United States Attorney Leah Foley’s office said Thursday.
U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick sentenced John Reardon, 60, to 26 months or two years and two months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Reardon must also pay $1,260 in restitution to the victims.
He previously pleaded guilty in November 2024 to one count of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs by threat of force, one count of transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure a person and one count of stalking using a facility of interstate commerce.
After his guilty plea, he was released on conditions despite the government’s objections, Foley’s office said in a statement released Thursday. He violated these conditions by calling a RightSpace Self Storage employee in Upton and told the man he would “f**k him up” and blow up the facility. Reardon called them again after the probation office told him not to. His state charges are pending.
“What John Reardon did is despicable,” Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Boston Ted Docks said in Foley’s statement. “Spurred by deep-rooted hate, he relentlessly threatened violent, physical harm to members of the Jewish community in greater Boston, spanning two congregations in two different cities, as well as the Israeli consulate. This sentence holds him accountable for his insidious crimes and should be a warning to others: the FBI takes all threats to life seriously and so should anyone thinking about making one. Don’t.”
In January 2024, Reardon was initially arrested and charged for calling and threatening Agudas Achim Synagogue in Attleborough and Congregation Etz Chaim in Sharon, Foley’s office said. He threatened to bomb the synagogues, kill all Jewish people and once said, “Time to prepare the furnaces again. I hope that you people are wiped off the face of the earth.”
Between Oct. 7, 2023, and Jan. 29, 2024, Reardon called the Israeli Consulate in Boston 98 times and made harassing and intimidating statements, Foley’s office said.
“You are maggots, you are scum, you are below animals, you Israelis,” Reardon said, according to Foley’s office.
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