by Alex Lloyd Gross
United States District Attorney Jaqueline Romero announced that Donavon Parish, 29, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, will be spending the next two years in federal prison. He has admitted that he placed phone calls to Jewish owned businesses, synagogues and organizations in the Delaware Valley. When the person would answer the phone, Parrish would spew hateful rhetoric at them before hanging up the phone.
Parrish thought that he was smart, using an internet based phone service but federal authorities were smarter. They tracked him down and hit him with a federal indictment earlier in 2023. Superseding information was filed in May of this year. In court, Parrish admitted to the special finding that he targeted people based on his belief that they were Jewish.
. “Donavan Parish’s harassment and hateful antisemitic threats terrorized those he targeted — their sense of security abruptly shaken by fears of escalation and physical harm,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “People of all faiths and backgrounds deserve to feel safe in their communities. That’s why my office and the FBI are committed to working these cases and bringing offenders like Parish to justice.”
“No member of our community should live in fear, regardless of where they work, live, or worship,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Philadelphia. “This sentence demonstrates the FBI and our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office will not tolerate such repeated and vile threats that seek to disrupt our community’s sense of safety and security, and we will bring the perpetrator to justice, no matter where they are.”