Man pleads guilty to wave of violent threats sent to Jewish organizations across 5 states

The Department of Justice announced that Clift Seferlis, 55, of Garrett Park, Maryland, pleaded guilty Thursday before US District Judge Mark A. Kearney to 17 counts of mailing threatening communications and eight counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs. The charges stem from a series of violent threats mailed to Jewish organizations across several states.

Seferlis was charged last month following his June arrest on a criminal complaint. According to court filings and his own admissions, from March 2024 through June 2025, he sent more than 40 letters and multiple postcards threatening violence against more than 25 Jewish institutions, including synagogues, museums, community centers, schools, non-profits, and even a delicatessen. Many of the messages threatened to destroy buildings or harm individuals.

The communications were sent to organizations located primarily in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. Several institutions received multiple threats across a span of 15 months. Each of the mailings contained explicit threats to injure people within the targeted buildings.

Prosecutors said Seferlis also obstructed and attempted to obstruct the free exercise of religion by threatening congregants at synagogues in the Washington, DC region, Maryland, Virginia, and Massachusetts during the same period. In several instances, including threats sent to synagogues in Falls Church and Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Washington, DC, he invoked the potential use of a dangerous weapon, fire, or explosives. Seferlis waived venue for offenses occurring outside the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, allowing all charges to be brought in that district.

Seferlis is scheduled to be sentenced on March 16. He faces a maximum penalty of 169 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and up to $5.65 million in fines.

The investigation was led by the FBI’s Philadelphia office, with support from FBI Baltimore, the US Postal Inspection Service, Montgomery County Police in Maryland, and the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland’s Greenbelt office. Assistance also came from the Anti-Defamation League, the Secure Community Network, and the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Mark Dubnoff of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Trial Attorney Taylor Payne of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.