Man charged with hate crime for leaving vile threats on Seattle synagogue's voicemail

King County prosecutors have charged a 30-year-old Seattle man, Joshua Cole Scott, with a hate crime after police say he left two threatening voicemails targeting a synagogue and its members. 

According to charging documents obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, Temple De Hirsch Sinai Synagogue’s operations director reported that on Dec. 12, two voicemails were left, each nearly two minutes long, that contained anti-Jewish hate speech, obscene language, and threats of violence, according to KIRO7.

The prosecutor’s filing stated that the caller said in the messages, “what a f*cking wonderful congregation that I managed to contact…you guys are f*cked,” “When I find you, I’m going to f*cking murder you,” “Six million isn’t going to be enough by the way, you f*cking Jew rat. Six million is gonna be a f*cking starter pack.”

According to police, the operations director of the synagogue believed she and her congregation were in reasonable danger and treated the incident seriously, given the repeated calls and escalating tone.

The documents say officers identified the caller using the phone number associated with the voicemails. After listening to the messages, an officer attempted to contact the number multiple times and then texted a request for a callback. Minutes later, the caller returned the call, gave the name “Joshua,” and laughed during the exchange, police wrote.

According to police, when the officer explained why he was calling, the suspect laughed and made comments suggesting he thought it was “nuts” that “the Jews” were calling police and that it was “hilarious” that officers were investigating. Police wrote that when asked if he was located in Seattle, he said no and hung up.

Later that night, officers responded to the suspect’s apartment in Seattle. When he came to the door, police said he appeared unsure how to respond and tried to close it; his wife then reopened the door and told officers he was drunk. The suspect initially said he had “no guns” and also told officers he did not remember the crime, according to the report, but later acknowledged he had made comments to the synagogue in a “drunken stupor.” Police said he was taken into custody without incident and indicated he understood his Miranda warnings.

Prosecutors asked the court to keep bail at $150,000, citing concerns about community safety given the alleged escalation to threats to murder a group of people. They also requested, and the court granted, a no-contact order with the synagogue, its staff, and members. Scott’s arraignment hearing is scheduled for 8:30 am Monday, Dec. 22, at the King County Courthouse.