Hall Gets 49 Months for NYC Hate Threat Spree

NEW YORK, NY – Donovan Hall, 35, of Mesa, Arizona, will spend the next 49 months behind bars after being sentenced for a sustained and chilling campaign of antisemitic threats directed at victims in New York City. U.S. District Judge Jennifer H. Rearden handed down the sentence on October 30, 2025, following a federal investigation led by the FBI’s Newark Field Office.

The Justice Department detailed a three-month period where Hall bombarded several New Yorkers – the “Victims” – with approximately 1,000 threatening communications. These weren’t idle words; Hall explicitly threatened torture, mutilation, rape, and murder of the victims and their families. The targeting began in August 2024, focusing initially on the Jewish owner of a Manhattan hotel, his family, and staff. Dozens of calls, laced with antisemitism, promised violence.

The threats escalated dramatically in October 2024 when Hall began texting photographs of two firearms and a machete to the hotel owner, explicitly stating his intention to use them for harm. A subsequent search of Hall’s Arizona residence on November 22, 2024, confirmed the existence of those weapons, along with additional firearms and ammunition. Crucially, the two firearms pictured in the texts were unregistered and found alongside Hall’s wallet in a backpack, one of them loaded.

“Donovan Hall targeted Jewish victims with a sustained campaign of intimidation, terror, and harassment,” stated U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “The approximately 1,000 threats he sent to these New Yorkers were alarming and brazen. The prosecution of this case and the sentence imposed make clear that this Office will aggressively bring to justice those who perpetrate senseless crimes of hate.” Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy of the FBI added that Hall’s “reign of fear is over,” and warned those hiding behind technology that the FBI takes all threats seriously.

This wasn’t an isolated incident. Authorities revealed that Hall’s threats extended beyond New York, forming a larger pattern of violent communications directed at individuals across the U.S., frequently targeting Jewish individuals. Hall pleaded guilty despite having been remanded for approximately 10 months, still receiving a near-maximum sentence for his calculated campaign of hate. He will also face three years of supervised release following his prison term.

The investigation involved collaboration between multiple law enforcement agencies, including the New York Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, the FBI Phoenix Field Office, the Mesa Police Department, and the Clifton Police Department in Clifton, New Jersey. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Adelsberg of the Office’s Civil Rights and Human Trafficking Unit led the prosecution. This case serves as a stark reminder that hate-fueled violence, even when expressed remotely, carries severe consequences.

RELATED: Hall Gets 49 Months for NYC Hate Threat Spree

RELATED: Arizona Narc Sentenced to Federal Drug Sentence