An Ohio man who was arrested in 2019 for making threats toward a Jewish community center in Youngstown has been sentenced to 41 months in prison, WFMJ reported.
James Rearedon will also be under supervised release for five years, and was ordered to seek mental health treatment.
Police were initially tipped off after Rearedon posted to Instagram a video of himself with an assault rifle and audio of gunshots, sirens and screams.
The video, which tagged the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown, was titled "Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist Seamus O'Reardon."
Police raided the home of then 20-year old Reardon, discovering dozens of rounds of ammo, multiple semi-automatic weapons, a gas mask and bulletproof armor. They also found the clothes and the MP-40 submachine gun that could be seen in Rearedon’s video, as well as many Nazi propaganda posters from World War II.
In light of the alleged threats he made against the Jewish community center, Rearedon was charged with telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing.
The Youngstown Area Jewish Federation said on Wednesday in a statement that they were satisfied with the outcome of the trial.
“We are thankful this is a case where everything went right,” said Federation CEO Andrew Lipkin. “While Mr. Reardon was successful in terrorizing our community, we are extremely fortunate that the legal consequences of his actions took place before an actual act of violence from which there could have been no recovery.”
Lipkin said that the incident traumatized the entire Jewish community.
“Words, particularly hateful words, matter, and Mr. Reardon’s shattered our communal security. With this sentence, we are hopeful our community can begin to heal.”
He added: “We are also hopeful that he now understands why the spread of threatening messages of hate is so dangerous and could lead to deadly outcomes. Upon his release, we encourage him to become a productive member of society.”
The Federation also said it was thankful for the high level of support the community received locally and nationally.
“We are grateful to the local FBI and law enforcement for their swift and strong response to this matter and for their continued willingness to keep the lines of communication open at all times. We are also grateful the legal process worked as it should,” Lipkin said.