UP man sentenced for threats against synagogue
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A man from the Upper Peninsula will spend time behind bars and pay thousands of dollars in restitution after authorities say he planned to attack a synagogue.
Seann Pietila, 20, was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in prison, three years of supervised release and restitution totaling $10,648.15.
Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of about two and half years, but the judge cited Pietila’s stunted emotional maturity in handing down a more lenient one.
“I think what is most important here is that the system worked exactly like it should,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said after the sentencing hearing. “We prevented a crime from happening. (The) FBI was aware of what was happening, they took active steps to be able to incapacitate the defendant, and we’re not here today talking about cleaning up in the aftermath of a mass shooting. We prevented it from happening.”
Upper Peninsula man pleads guilty to antisemitic threats
Pietila, originally of Pickford but living in Lansing when the threats were made, pleaded guilty in November to a federal threat charge. He was indicted last summer at age 19 after investigators said he sent messages on Instagram about planning to commit a mass shooting targeting people who are Jewish. FBI agents said they found guns, ammunition, knives, tactical gear and a Nazi flag when they raided his home. A note on his phone identified a synagogue in East Lansing, Congregation Shaarey Zedek, and indicated the shooting would happen March 14, 2024.
Pietila’s attorney argued that his client made only verbal threats and did not take any action. But Totten said there were actions.
“There were notes that were discovered that showed the defendant was thinking through how, when and where to carry about this atrocity,” he said.
Amy Bigman, who has been the rabbi at Congregation Shaarey Zedek for 17 years, thanked Totten, his office and the FBI for their work.
“We’re mostly grateful that our law enforcement is aware of the concerns and needs of the Jewish community, not only our community but throughout the state and throughout the country, frankly, as the rise in antisemitism continues,” Bigman said.
She said she was told of the threat only hours before the congregation planned to hold a large celebration in June and described Pietila’s online messages as “very scary.”
“We had no contact with him, we did nothing to hurt him in any way, shape or form, and yet he turned his anger or disappointment in a life situation onto us,” Bigman said.
She said she was relieved to learn that Pietila had been arrested and no longer posed a danger. She added that her congregation hopes he will get the mental health support he needs.
Bigman said the case has made people at her synagogue suspicious of outsiders.
“This past Friday evening, we had a visitor who just wanted to come and be supportive, but we had to be leery of somebody who wanted to be supportive because we didn’t know him,” she said. “We didn’t know if we should let him in to the building.”
She hoped that antisemitic sentiments would soon ease and her congregation could again feel comfortable welcoming others.
Totten said there has been an increase in hate crimes, “most prominently antisemitism,” across the country and within his district, citing the January conviction of Nathan Weeden for spray-painting neo-Nazi symbols on a synagogue in the U.P. in September 2019. The internet, he said, allows people who might otherwise never know one another to connect and become radicalized.
U.P. man convicted of defacing synagogue
“Our commitment is to protect people across the district who maybe find themselves the victims of these types of crimes and to hold offenders accountable,” Totten said.
He encouraged people to report hate incidents to the FBI by calling 1.800.CALL.FBI (225.5324) or going to tips.fbi.gov.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.
