A 19-year-old from Pickford, Michigan, was arrested by the FBI on Friday for allegedly making antisemitic threats on Instagram.
Seann Pietila was charged in a criminal complaint with \u201ctransmitting a communication containing a threat to injure another,\u201d US Attorney Mark Totten announced Friday in a news release.
\u201cAntisemitic threats and violence against our Jewish communities \u2013 or any other group for that matter \u2013 will not be tolerated in the Western District of Michigan,\u201d Totten said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Pietila had conversations with another Instagram user about committing a mass casualty or mass killing. Pietila told investigators that he didn\u2019t plan on following through with the mass killings he discussed, the affidavit says.
Investigators found the name of an East Lansing synagogue, a date and a list of weapons \u2013 including bombs, Molotov cocktails and guns \u2013 in the notes app of Pietila\u2019s phone, according to the affidavit.
His home was searched on Friday and among the items found were ammunition, magazines, a shotgun, rifle, various knives and a Nazi flag, Totten said.
Beth Lacosse, Pietila\u2019s public defender, declined to comment, saying she had just been appointed to the case.
Pietila made his first court appearance on Friday and his detention hearing is set for June 22, according to court documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n