CLEVELAND — Authorities on Thursday held a news conference to announce federal charges against a New Middletown man accused of making threats against the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown on social media.
U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman, FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Smith and New Middletown Police Chief Vince D’Egidio were among the officials at the press conference.
FBI Special Agent Eric Smith said a citizen alerted a New Middletown police officer to her former friend's concerning Instagram posts Aug. 16. Police alerted FBI officials in Youngstown, who identified the poster as 20-year-old James P. Reardon under the username "Seamus O'Reardon."
Reardon's posts showed him holding an assault rifle with audio of gunshots, sirens and people screaming in the background. The video was tagged with a geolocation at the Youngstown Jewish Community Center.
The video also had a caption, which stated in part, "Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist Seamus O'Rearedon."
Police obtained a search warrant for Reardon's New Middletown home, where officers found the weapons seen in the social media posts. In total, they found:
- AR-15 assault rifle
- MP-40 submachine gun
- Numerous Nazi World War II propaganda posters
- Rifle bayonet
- Hitler youth knife
- Vintage U.S. military equipment
Reardon is charged with one count of making threats using a facility of interstate commerce. Reardon made his first appearance in federal court Thursday morning.
Police say Reardon has a "storied past" of support for white nationalism, including videos showing him at the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where one woman was killed. Reardon does not have a previous criminal record, D’Egidio said.
“Let me speak to generally to those who are advocates to white supremacy or white nationalism. I am talking directly to you," Herdman said during Thursday's news conference. "The Constitution protects your right to speak, your right to think and your right to believe. If you want to waste the blessing of liberty by going down a path of hatred and failed ideologies, that is your choice. Democracy allows you to test those ideas in a public forum. If you want to submit your beliefs to the American people and get their reaction, please be our guest. Keep this in mind, though. Thousands and thousands of young Americans already voted with their lives to ensure that this same method of intolerance, death and destruction would not prevail. You can count their ballots by visiting any American cemetery in North Africa, Italy, France or Belgium and tallying the white headstones.”
D’Egidio added that Reardon's mother said she had past concerns about some of her son's ideologies, but claimed she thought he had changed. Reardon is an alumnus of Springfield High School, according to authorities.
Officials also stressed the importance of citizens coming forward when someone they know may pose a threat to others.
"People have bad ideas on their mind," D'Egidio said. "When you know about that, let somebody know."