A Riverside woman who bombarded the former executive director of Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue with threatening phone calls and voicemails — the first just months after the deadliest anti-Semitic attack on U.S. soil — has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison, according to court documents. .
Melanie Harris, 59, hurled anti-Semitic slurs, swore violence, including beheadings, and used “vile and inflammatory language,” according to a Miami-based FBI agent.
Harris, who He pleaded guilty in March., was sentenced by a Miami judge to 32 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for intentionally transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce. The Federal Bureau of Prisons will determine where Harris will serve his sentence.
A call and email to the attorney representing Harris were not returned.
Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said Harris' “anti-Semitic threats terrorized a Jewish family.”
“His hateful phone calls and voicemails were abhorrent,” Lapointe said in a statement. “No one should live in fear of threats, harassment and hate-fueled violence.”
The calls began in February 2019, according to court documents, just months after Robert Bowers shot and killed 11 worshipers at the Pittsburgh synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. Bowers, who has since been convicted and sentenced to death, espoused white supremacist views and ranted online about his hatred of Jews before the shooting.
Harris concealed her identity by using the *67 feature, which blocks caller ID, and left voicemails loaded with “anti-Semitic and harassing language,” according to court documents.
He initially made three calls within a three-minute span, first to Tree of Life and then twice to a person identified in court documents as Victim No. 1, the former CEO of Tree of Life who then lived in the area of Pittsburgh.
Between February 2019 and March 2022, Harris called victim No. 1 53 more times, according to court records. An analysis presented to the court showed that Harris attempted 190 calls between October 2022 and February 2023, including 129 in November. However, many of those calls were not answered or were hung up on immediately, according to court documents.
All calls to Victim No. 1 were made from Harris' Riverside home, authorities said.
Harris left 15 voicemails for Victim No. 1 on October 3, 2022, including four threatening and anti-Semitic messages. In one, according to court documents, Harris twice threatened to behead Victim No. 1's stepson, whom he referred to using an anti-Semitic slur, according to court documents.
That same day, Harris made three additional calls to Victim No. 1, all advocating similar violence against him and his family, according to court documents.
On Nov. 22, Harris threatened in another voicemail to stab Victim No. 1, according to court documents. There was an additional call and threat on December 6.
In voicemails left on Tree of Life, she gloated about the shooting of Jewish grandmothers, using an insult, according to court documents. Harris also hurled anti-Semitic slurs at Victim No. 1's adult son and stepson and his wife, according to court documents.
Neither the victims nor Harris knew each other, according to court and prosecutor documents. Harris was not believed to have any connection to the Tree of Life.
Victim #1 and his wife eventually left Pennsylvania and moved to Broward County, Florida. However, Victim No. 1 did not change his cell phone number, wanting to maintain ties to the Pittsburgh community, according to court documents.
Authorities say Harris also made references to the death of Anne Frank at the hands of the Nazis and the sending of Jews back to Auschwitz. In a call played in court, Harris repeatedly shouted: “Sieg Heil, [Jew] murderers,” using an insult before hanging up, according to court documents.
She was arrested on March 4, 2023.
“The nature of his threats of violence toward the victims and their faith were clearly intended to evoke a climate of fear and intimidation,” Jeffrey B. Veltri, special agent in charge of the FBI's Miami field office, said in a statement. . “Such behavior cannot be tolerated.”
