Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

St. Louis Man Accused Of 8 Bomb Threats Will Remain In Jail

(JTA) — A former journalist from St. Louis accused of making at least eight bomb threats against Jewish Community Centers and the Anti-Defamation League appeared in federal court in New York and did not request bail.

Juan Thompson, 31, who made some of the threats in the name of a former romantic partner he had been cyber stalking and some in his own in an attempt to portray himself as being framed, appeared in Manhattan Federal Court on Wednesday.

He was indicted on one count of cyber stalking for the threats, which federal prosecutors say were copycat crimes during a wave of nearly 150 bomb threats to JCCs and other Jewish institutions since the beginning of the year.

He was arrested on March 3 for the threats, which carry a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000. Nearly three weeks later, an Israeli-American teen was arrested in Israel for allegedly making the bulk of the threats.

After not making a case to receive bail, which was denied at the time of his arrest, Thompson will likely remain in jail until his next hearing on April 10.

The FBI complaint says Thompson threatened institutions including the ADL, JCCs in San Diego and New York City, schools in New York and Michigan, and a Jewish history museum in New York City.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.