Man who threatened local official sentenced

Edward Arthur Owens Jr., 30, of Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court to 30 months of incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release, on charges related to his threatening a local public official and making false statements to other government officials.

Owens pled guilty to the charges in January and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer on June 9.

The sentence follows a May 20, 2025, incident in which Owens targeted an unnamed Pittsburgh public official with antisemitic threats through the Facebook messenger app.

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“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.”

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

Owens also sent a text message to a friend asking if he was ready to “hunt down Jews for extermination.”

When FBI agents searched Owens’ phone, they found searches related to antisemitism and the term “Pittsburgh Jews.”

Owens told authorities he wasn’t violent but said he was “rage baited” to send the threats to the official, whom he assumed was Jewish.

At his plea hearing, FBI Special Agent Abigail Patcher testified that Owens searched the internet for New York City synagogues as well as the phrase “dancing Jews,” a reference to a conspiracy theory that five Israeli men were seen dancing in the streets of New York in the wake of Al Qaeda’s 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, and were arrested and later released without being charged.

Owens’ girlfriend at the time said he told her, “Jews control everything,” and “Jews control the news.”

When the FBI asked Owens about various weapons he owned — a .22 caliber rifle, an AR-15 rifle, and 9 mm pistol — he lied, saying they were all at his mother’s home; however agents found a 9 mm pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition when they searched his truck.

In a statement to the court, the elected official said their life had changed as a result of the threats, detailing precautions they were forced to take and a sense of anxiety at public events and on social media.

“Only days after a Jewish couple was executed in front of a museum in Washington, D.C. From my perspective, there was no reason to think ‘Casey Jones,’ now known to the court to be Edward Owens, wouldn’t come to hurt or kill me.”

The victim called Owens a “ticking time bomb,” writing that he was “obsessed with Jews and wants to inflict harm on others. He remains a safety threat to me personally, the Jewish community, and the broader public.”

U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti said that Owens’ sentence sends two strong messages: “Our community remains stronger than hate”; and law enforcement will work to ensure that individuals who commit crimes driven by hate “will be accountable to the fullest extent of federal law.”

FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Richard Evanchec said the threats Owens made go beyond hate-fueled words.
“It is an attack on the very principles of the United States,” he said. “Hatred and deception have no place here.”

Owens’ sentencing occurred after other unrelated antisemitic incidents were reported in the Pittsburgh area.

A Franklin Regional Senior High School graduating senior was found to have included antisemitic Holocaust denial conspiracy theories in the school’s 2025-26 Panther yearbook, including “271k or not enough.”

The number 271,000 is regularly cited by Holocaust deniers, who claim it is the actual number of Jewish people killed during World War II — not 6 million.

Franklin Regional spokesperson Deana Callipare told the Chronicle the school was made aware of the statement after the yearbook was distributed and immediately launched an investigation.

The yearbook adviser, Callipare said, was unaware of the meaning behind the statement.

“The district obviously does not condone this type of behavior and there is no room for hate speech in our community,” she said. “While the district cannot comment on the specific student’s discipline, the administration took action in alignment with the district discipline policy and student code of conduct.”

Callipare said the district is reviewing its yearbook development and approval procedures “to determine what additional safeguards might be necessary moving forward.”

Two unrelated incidents also occurred at Kennywood Amusement Park.

A group of teenage Jewish boys was harassed by another group of teenagers, who made derogatory comments and knocked off some of the boys’ kippot.

The incident was reported to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh several days after it occurred. Because park officials were not notified at the time, they were unable to respond to or address the matter when it happened.

In a separate incident, a man displaying white power and swastika tattoos was observed waiting in line for a ride. No one reported the man to park officials.

Shawn Brokos, the Federation’s community security director, spoke with Kennywood’s security director, who told her that no hate symbols are allowed in the park and the individual with the racist tattoos most likely wore clothing over them when entering.

Kennywood, Brokos said, has QR codes throughout the park allowing people to report incidents quickly, easily and anonymously.

Brokos noted that Kennywood is a popular destination for the Pittsburgh Jewish community.

“If something happens, report it right away,” she said. “I can call the head of security right then and there, or they can go directly to security.”

Calls to Kennywood were not returned before this story was published.

Any suspicious activity should be reported by calling 911 and filing an incident report on the Federation website. PJC

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