Definition of anti-Semitism and anti-Semite
Definition of anti-Semitism and anti-SemiteiStock

A New York man pleaded guilty to hate crime charges for uttering antisemitic death threats to a Jewish resident of Stratford, Connecticut.

According to documents and statements presented in court, in November 2019, Christopher Rascoll, 49, of Blauvelt, New York, began threatening the Jewish Connecticut resident through text messages, voicemails and Facebook posts.

The text messages continued into June 2020, said the United States Attorney’s Office, District of Connecticut.

In several messages Rascoll threatened to murder or seriously injure the individual. He also threatened to blow up their house and car. Some of the messages contained anti-Semitic content referring to the Holocaust.

In December 2019, Rascoll messaged the victim, “Suns about to go down. It would be a shame if your house were used to light the menorah. Or turned in a gas chamber.”

In April, 2020, he wrote, “I’m going to kill you. You better be gone because if you’re (home on) Easter weekend I’m going to stick you in an oven. Or I’m going to shoot you.”

Rascoll pleased guilty to one count of interference with the right to fair housing, a hate crime which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years, and one count of sending threatening communications, which carries a maximum term of five years.

The FBI along with the Straftord Police Department had investigated the case. Sentencing will occur in July, 2021.