Jewish groups applauded the sentencing this week of a self-described Nazi in Indiana who left threatening voicemails at multiple offices of the Anti-Defamation League.
Andrzej Boryga, 67, received two years in federal prison and an additional two years of supervised release, the US Justice Department said Tuesday. He pleaded guilty to sending interstate threats and to targeting his victims based on their religion.
In a statement, the ADL, the Jewish anti-bigotry watchdog, thanked authorities “for prosecuting this perpetrator of violent threats against ADL, and for the dept’s commitment to protecting Jewish people and organizations in the face of unprecedented threats since the October 7 terror attack.”
Boryga’s actions occurred in 2022, the year before Oct. 7. He was indicted days before the attacks. The Secure Community Network, a Jewish security agency, also commended the sentencing.
Threatening antisemitic voicemails
According to authorities, Boryga had left a string of eight threatening voicemails with antisemitic slurs at ADL offices in New York, Texas, Colorado and Nevada over a span of several months. In one call to the Denver office, he reportedly identified himself as a Nazi and repeatedly threatened to decapitate ADL staff “with pleasure.” He also implied his grandfather was a Nazi S.S. officer who killed more than 120 Jews.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is Jewish, said in a release that “this defendant made heinous, repeated violent threats targeting Jewish people and organizations” and said the sentencing “represents the latest effort by the Justice Department to combat the disturbing increase in threats against Jews and Jewish institutions across the United States.” Garland also referenced Oct. 7 in his statement.
The sentencing came the same week as another high-profile Justice Department sentencing for antisemitic crimes: A New Jersey man who pleaded guilty to stabbing and running over Orthodox Jews was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
The department claims to have sentenced more than 30 defendants “for criminal acts motivated by antisemitic hate” in recent months.