STRUTHERS, Ohio — A 20-year-old man pleaded not guilty Monday to threatening a Jewish community center in a video that authorities say showed him shooting a semi-automatic rifle.
A judge near Youngstown set bond at $250,000 for James Reardon, ordered a mental health evaluation and told him to stay away from Jewish houses of worship and organizations if he is released from jail.
Police arrested Reardon on charges of telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing on Saturday, a day after a Jewish organization contacted authorities.
Ammunition, semi-automatic weapons, a gas mask and anti-Semitic information were found at a house in New Middleton where he lives with his mother, police said.
MORE: Authorities seized dozens of rounds of ammo, multiple semi-automatic weapons, a gas mask and bulletproof armor from James Reardon Jr.'s home. https://t.co/RtlcVgmIqp https://t.co/fQG1zqguHs
— ABC News (@ABC) August 19, 2019
New Middletown police said the video posted on Reardon’s Instagram account last month included the sounds of sirens and screaming with the caption: “Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist Seamus O’Rearedon.”
The post tagged the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown.
The Youngstown Area Jewish Federation said it found out about the threat on Friday and alerted the police and FBI. The organization said it later learned that “ira—seamus” was an online pseudonym for James Reardon.
Vindicator reporter @graiggraziosi with the backstory on James Reardon, the Youngstown-area man accused of making threats against a Jewish community center: https://t.co/OpfT963LMh
— Henry J. Gomez (@HenryJGomez) August 19, 2019
“I want to stress that we know of no other threat to the Jewish Community or to any of our agencies at this point it time,” said Andy Lipkin, the federation’s executive vice president. “”Nonetheless, I have directed that we maintain the additional level of security for the near future.”
Reardon was arraigned by video in Struthers Municipal Court.
A message seeking comment was left with his attorney. There was no answer at a phone number for his mother, and a man who answered a number listed for his father hung up.
Media outlets in Youngstown reported that Reardon attended the 2017 white nationalist rally that turned violent in Charlottesville, Va.
In 2017 while helping w/ media relations for Charlottesville community defenders I had the privilege of assisting @KatieCouric & NatGeo. This week one man Katie interviewed, James Reardon (below), was accused of threatening to shoot up a Jewish community center in Youngstown, OH. pic.twitter.com/guy6e9pX6A
— The Sparrow Project (@sparrowmedia) August 20, 2019
New Middletown Police Chief Vince D’egidio told WFMJ-TV that Reardon has posted several videos in which he used derogatory remarks toward the Jewish and African American communities.
