Mississippi Man Charged With Cyberstalking and Making Antisemitic Threats Targeting Synagogues and Jewish-Owned Businesses

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Donavon Parish, 28, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, was arrested and charged by indictment on charges of cyberstalking and communicating interstate threats. The federal grand jury made a special finding that the defendant targeted his victims based on their actual and perceived religion.

The indictment alleges that during April and May 2022, the defendant used a Voice over Internet Protocol service to make a series of phone calls to synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In these calls, the defendant allegedly spoke to individuals answering the telephone calls on behalf of their respective institutions, at which time he repeatedly referenced the genocide of approximately six million Jewish people during the Holocaust, stating, among other things, “Heil Hitler,” “all Jews must die,” “we will put you in work camps,” “gas the Jews,” and “Hitler should have finished the job.”

If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 50 years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, a $2,500,000 fine, and a $1,000 special assessment.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the United States Department of Justice’s National Security Division (Counterterrorism Section), with assistance from the United States Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi.

An indictment, information, or criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.