Man indicted on firebombing attempt of Mass. Jewish-sponsored assisted living facility
John Michael Rathbun Image by Handout
(JTA) — A federal grand jury has indicted a Massachusetts man accused of using a homemade explosive to commit arson at a Jewish-sponsored assisted living facility.
John Michael Rathbun, 36, was charged on two counts Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
The targeted facility, Ruth’s House in Longmeadow, a suburb of Springfield, is situated within one square mile of several other Jewish facilities, including three synagogues, a Jewish private school and a Jewish community center. The facility is owned by JGS Lifecare.
Rathbun was arrested on April 15 and has been in federal custody since April 17.
His homemade bomb, discovered on April 2, was made of a five-gallon plastic gas canister filled with flammable liquid, with burnt paper later identified as a Christian religious pamphlet placed in the nozzle of the canister, according to the complaint. Part of the pamphlet was charred after being lit on fire in an attempt to ignite the gas.
The post Massachusetts man indicted in attempt to firebomb a Jewish-sponsored assisted living facility appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
