Deep Alpesh Kumar Patel, a 21-year-old resident of Sarasota, has pleaded guilty to transmitting an interstate threat to injure, according to an announcement by United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg. Patel faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison, with a sentencing date yet to be determined.
The plea agreement reveals that on October 21, 2023, Patel left a threatening voicemail at a Jewish organization in New York City. In the voicemail, he identified himself by name, used numerous expletives, and expressed violent intentions, stating, “If I had a chance, I would kill every single one of you Israelis. Every single one of you! Cause mass genocide of every single Israeli.”
Additionally, Patel admitted to calling a synagogue in Temple Terrace, Florida, on the same day, leaving another expletive-laden voicemail with a threat to close it down. In the plea agreement, Patel acknowledged intentionally selecting Jewish and/or Israeli individuals as the targets of his threats based on their actual or perceived race, religion, national origin, or ethnicity.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in collaboration with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
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