Source: US FBI
PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Clift A. Seferlis, 55, of Garrett Park, Maryland, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with mailing threatening communications.
As alleged in the complaint, from at least March 1, 2024, through the present, the defendant is alleged to have sent numerous written threats through the mail to Jewish organizations and entities located in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
Many of these letters threaten the Jewish institutions and contain references to Gaza, Israel, or events in which Jewish people were killed or otherwise attacked. The letters then suggest that the recipients might become victims of similar acts of violence.
One of these communications came from a typewritten letter, postmarked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 7, 2025. The envelope was addressed to Victim Jewish Institution 1, to the attention of a person with the initials J.G., an employee of Victim Jewish Institution 1 at the time.
The letter began, “Hello [J.]” and continued:
I just wanted to say you are going to have to be more reliant than ever on your donors.
But at some point that money too will become less and less.
The hatred toward you all, your [institution], and especially the nation of Israel is at an all time high and is only getting worse.
Do you – deep down – reallycare [sic] – really – about what is going on in Gaza?
Will it take something happening to your beloved [institution] to make that happen.
This Victim Jewish Institution 1 received numerous additional messages since April 1, 2024, which contained a threat to physically destroy the institution.
Prior to the receipt of the May 7, 2025, mailing, Victim Jewish Institution 1 and its employees had received very similar-looking letters, believed to have been sent by Seferlis, which referenced Victim Jewish Institution 1’s “many big open windows,” “Kristallnacht,” “anger and rage,” and a future need to “rebuild” the institution following its destruction.
This case was investigated by FBI Philadelphia, with assistance from FBI Baltimore, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Montgomery County, Maryland, Police Department, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland’s Greenbelt office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark Dubnoff.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.