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Tempe man arrested, hit with federal charges for allegedly threatening to kill Scottsdale rabbi

The man allegedly sent the threat by email last Friday.
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Posted at 2:15 PM, Nov 07, 2023
and last updated 2023-11-07 16:15:29-05

TEMPE, AZ — An Arizona man was arrested and hit with federal charges over the weekend for allegedly threatening to execute a Scottsdale rabbi and "every other JEW" he could find, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Jeffrey Mindock, a 47-year-old Tempe resident, allegedly sent an email last Friday morning to the rabbi asking him to convince a judge in Utah to drop charges against him in a separate case there.

“If you do not use your influence to right this wrong I will execute you and every other JEW [sic] I can find tonight at midnight of your Sabbath," Mindock allegedly wrote. "If you wish to communicate with me further, I will only meet in person."

The subject of the email read: "HITLER WAS RIGHT RABBI," according to the criminal complaint, and referenced the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

"As I have watched the atrocities unfolding in Palestine, I have come to the realization that YOU people are to blame for everything evil in this world,” Mindock allegedly wrote. “Zionist Jews control everything from the courts to the banks to the media. We both know that you are in control.”

Prosecutors say Mindock has a history of threatening behavior, alleging he sent an email previously to a judge that threatened to "hang" them and that in a prior court appearance, he threatened to "execute" people in 2021, saying he knew “how to make bombs.”

He further stated at that time, he was a sovereign citizen and that Ted Kaczynski was “his hero,” prosecutors say.

Mindock made his initial appearance Monday morning and was appointed a public defender. He has not entered a plea and is being held prior to a detention hearing at a yet-to-be-determined date. ABC News has reached out to the public defender in the case.