A Connecticut man already in custody after large quantities of firearms and ammuniti on were seized from his home was indicted on charges he made online threats to kill or injure people, including Jews, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday.
Kendall Sullivan, 50, of Stamford, was charged on Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with three counts of making threatening communications online, each punishable by up to five years in prison.
A lawyer for Sullivan could not immediately be identified.
Authorities said Sullivan posted his threats on the internet forum Metalthrone.net three times between May 29 and July 5.
The indictment alleged that Sullivan wrote that he had “a few ‘Houses of Satan’ in my Town,” and that “if these Jews truly believe in their god Satan, I will upset their world. I will slaughter them and burn their Synagogue to the ground … kids, goldfish, old folks.”
It also alleged that Sullivan wrote another forum participant, whom he identified as Jewish, about his plan to meet at a Carvel ice cream store in Westport, where he would “shoot or run over you…. A 50 year old kills a Satanist with a 9mm.”
Sullivan has been in custody since July 15, when he was charged in state court with unlawful possession of unregistered high capacity magazines, the Justice Department said.
On the same day, FBI officials and Stamford police seized more than two dozen firearms, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and other firearm components from Sullivan’s home, the department said.
Patricia Ferrick, the agent in charge of the FBI’s New Haven division, says she believes authorities may have thwarted “a horrific hate crime.”
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly in Connecticut had no additional comment. The Stamford Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The federal case is U.S. v. Sullivan, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut.
