NC man given maximum penalty for sending Macon rabbi, state rep. antisemitic postcard
Despite a North Carolina man’s insistence that the antisemitic postcards he sent to a Macon rabbi and an Atlanta lawmaker were to promote his business, a judge sentenced him Wednesday to the maximum penalty for his crimes .
Ariel Collazo Ramos of High Point, North Carolina, was found guilty in early November of mailing threatening communications to Macon Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar of Temple Beth Israel and Georgia State Rep. Esther Panitch. Though court officials recommended he serve two years in prison, Judge Marc Treadwell ultimately gave him the maximum penalty of five years .
The postcards showed a sketch comparing Jewish people to rats, as well as an offer for a 10% discount if the reader bought “Zyklon B,” a candle sold at the store Ramos operated from his North Carolina home. — a reference to the hydrogen cyanide gas used by Nazis during the Holocaust. Ramos and his attorney, Barry Debrow Jr., said in court that the discount was legitimate.
Speaking to Treadwell before receiving his sentence, Ramos said he chose to send Bahar and Panitch the postcards after reading a news article about them introducing House Bill 30, which would recognize antisemitism in Georgia. He wanted to “piss them off,” Ramos said in court.
Sending the handwritten postcards and the resulting aftermath was exactly what Ramos wanted, he told Treadwell. It would have people talking about the incident and pointing them to his business selling products depicting white nationalist themes. Rather than a death threat, he viewed the postcards as an advertisement for his company, he said.
But, after finding him guilty of the mailing threatening communications charge, jurors found those messages were a hate crime rather than a protected right under the First Amendment.
Panitch spoke at a press conference following the sentencing and said while speech is protected, threats are not. She also said Ramos took no responsibility and showed no empathy.
“It (The sentence) sends a clear message that hate is not tolerated, (and) that there is a vehicle to address it correctively in the justice department,” Bahar said.
Threats sent under ‘fake guise’ of promoting business
U.S. Attorney Will Keyes, for the Middle District of Georgia, said Ramos is a Nazi who deliberately targeted Bahar and Panitch to make them fear for their lives under the guise of promoting his business. Treadwell agreed.
Treadwell said it was clear, from evidence shown in court and Ramos’ own statement, that Ramos wanted to spread harm with minimal risk to himself. Despite Bahar and Panitch receiving the letters, the message was aimed at hurting the Jewish community.
After serving his five-year sentence, Ramos will be on supervised release for three years, during which he’ll have limited access to computers.
“While this crime happened to be rooted in antisemitism, the government, law enforcement, this community and these faith-based leaders, who I’m grateful (are) standing behind me… we take any crimes predicated upon hatred because of race, religion or protected class very seriously,” Keyes said.
