Hundreds of Emailed Threats to NJ Judges Draw Federal Indictment

A Los Angeles man is accused of emailing hundreds of threatening messages to New Jersey judges and other officials, one including a picture of a shotgun with a winking emoticon.

Jonathan Lipman was indicted Monday in the United States District Court for the Central District of California for allegedly harassing and threatening Garden State judges in an effort to get back at a legal system that imposed a protective order against him after he made threats on Facebook. He’s accused of violating 18 U.S.C. § 875 (c), a federal provision criminalizing threats over interstate communication.

The incident demonstrates how messages directed thousands of miles away could still bring legal consequences home for Internet speech. Lipman first got into hot water when he posted allegedly threatening comments on the Lacey Township, NJ police department’s Facebook page, which led to a municipal judge issuing an extreme risk protection order blocking Lipman from possessing firearms.

The Los Angeles Police Department fulfilled that order, executing a warrant at Lipman’s home. This triggered months of harassing emails that landed Lipman in federal court.

Lipman allegedly sent threats to various New Jersey officials, including New Jersey Superior Court Judge Kimarie Rahill, the judge who imposed the protective order. He sent her messages saying how he hoped she’d die, and another with a picture of a shotgun. “Is a photo illegal?”, the subject read, and the body of the email was blank save for a winking emoticon, the complaint said.

Lipman couldn’t immediately be contacted.

The case is United States v. Lipman, C.D. Cal., No. 2:23-mj-04908, complaint filed 9/25/23.

—With assistance from Seamus Hughes.