A San Fernando Valley man was sentenced Monday to three years and seven months in federal prison after repeatedly threatening a Jewish woman and sending her violent, anti-Semitic and anti-Asian text messages.
Andre Lackner of Northridge pleaded guilty to a harassment charge in January and admitted to sending text messages such as “I want to see every Jew exterminated from this land” and “I'll make sure to kill a Jew,” according to court documents. .
He faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Lackner, 35, sent the messages between June 2021 and October 2022 to a victim identified in court documents as MS, who met Lackner in 2006 at Santa Monica College. Lackner and MS dated briefly and ended the relationship on amicable terms, according to court documents.
MS encouraged Lackner to seek help when he began sending her messages about harming himself and others. He reported Lackner to the FBI after receiving overtly threatening and anti-Semitic messages.
The messages made him “fear for his safety, that of his family, and that of the community at large,” according to a sentencing memorandum.
“Maybe Hitler was right,” one message said. “You need to be escorted back to the gas chamber where you belong.”
Lackner also made violent comments toward Asians, writing that “Asians are even worse” and that he wanted to “start more hate toward Asians.”
Court documents say Lackner had a history of posting threats online about mass shootings at schools, cruise ships and at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
In 2017, he called his former teacher at Venice High School and threatened to kill her and her family, according to the documents. Four days later, he appeared in a park where the teacher was walking her dog. He was arrested and convicted of making criminal threats with intent to terrorize.
MS stopped responding to Lackner's messages shortly after they became violent and eventually blocked him, according to sentencing documents. She told authorities that Lackner knew his family was Jewish and wrote that “he might remember where my family lives now” and “he might try to go there and hurt the Jews.”
Lackner has been in federal custody since December 2022.
