Defendant pleads guilty to threatening Pittsburgh public official, lying to FBI

Edward Arthur Owens Jr. pled guilty in federal court to transmitting an interstate threat and making false statements to a government official.

His charges stem from a May 20 incident in which he threatened an unnamed Pittsburgh public official through the Facebook messenger app.

“We’re coming for you [emoji of person raising right hand] [German flag emoji] be afraid. Go back to Israel or better yet, exterminate yourself and save us the trouble. 109 countries for a reason. We will not stop until your kind is nonexistent,” Owens wrote to the official using the alias Casey Jones.

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The number 109 is based on an antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jews have been expelled from 109 countries.

He separately sent a text to a friend asking if he was ready to “hunt down Jews for extermination.”

When the FBI searched Owens’ phone, they found searches related to antisemitism as well as a search for the term “Pittsburgh Jews.”

When questioned by the FBI, Owens told agents he wasn’t violent but had been “rage baited” to send the threats to the official, whom he assumed was Jewish because of their support for the Jewish community.

FBI agents asked Owens about different weapons he owned. Assistant United States Attorney Carl J. Spindler said the defendant lied about the location of his guns and his access to them, saying they were all at his mother’s home; however, when police searched his truck, they found a 9 mm pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Owens’ ex-girlfriend testified that he became angrier with Jews over time, telling her that “Jews control everything” and “Jews control the news.”

The Jan.12 plea before U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer came during a nearly 90-minute hearing that began with Fischer asking Owens questions about his background and time in prison. He has been detained since his arrest.

Wearing an orange prison uniform, his legs shackled, Owens said that he was 30, graduated high school in Virginia and attended vocational school studying diesel engines.

Owens said he moved to Butler, Pennsylvania, to take care of his ailing grandparents before moving to Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, to live with his now ex-girlfriend. While there, Owens said that he was employed as a motorcycle salesman.

The defendant told Fischer he had never attended Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, nor had he been in any form of drug or alcohol rehabilitation program.

And while Owens said he did not take any anxiety medication before being arrested, since being in prison he said he was prescribed Vistaril, an antihistamine used to treat anxiety and tension.

Asked by the judge how he spent his time in prison, Owens said he had been doing “a lot of reflecting,” recounting three movements in various prison pods, sharing a cell at times with a Catholic, a Muslim and a Jewish prisoner who had been extradited from Israel.

Owens said he also did the necessary background work to join the prison’s IGNITE (Inmate Growth Naturally and Intentionally Through Education) program.

And while Owens wasn’t a member of NA or AA before his arrest, he said while confined he participated in informal 12-step programs organized by the prisoners.

Fischer next went through a series of questions ensuring that Owens understood the charges against him and that he and his lawyer, Samir Sarna, had discussed the relevant information.

As part of his plea deal, Owens agreed to forfeit all his guns, as well as two iPhones and an iPad. He is required to pay restitution, $200 in fees and serve a maximum of 27 to 33 months in prison if the deal is approved by Fischer.

Owens will remain in custody pending an April 13 sentencing hearing. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.