Melanie Harris, Anti-Semitic Threats, Florida 2024

MIAMI – In a disturbing case of hate-fueled violence, a California woman has been sentenced to prison for making anti-Semitic phone threats to the former Executive Director of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue.

Melanie Harris, 59 of Riverside, California, was sentenced yesterday to 32 months in prison, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, after previously pleading guilty to knowingly and intentionally transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce.

Harris was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman during a hearing in Miami, Florida.

“Defendant Melanie Harris’s anti-Semitic threats terrorized a Jewish family,” stated U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida. “Her hate-filled telephone calls and voicemails were abhorrent. No one should live in fear of threats, harassment, and hate-fueled violence. There is simply no place in our society for anyone who threatens Jews or anyone else in our diverse South Florida community.”

In a disturbing series of calls and voicemails, Harris unleashed anti-Semitic hate and direct threats against Victim 1, his family, and Jews in general. Harris made over two-hundred and forty calls to Victim 1, leaving messages and engaging in conversations where she repeatedly referred to the congregants murdered in the October 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Harris also made vile references to Anne Frank being murdered by the Nazis, Jews going back to Auschwitz, and in one voicemail, played for the Court at the sentencing hearing, she repeatedly screamed “Seig Heil, Kill Kikers” over and over before hanging up.

Harris’ four-year onslaught of harassment and threats of the victims was compounded by the fact that until July 2018, Victim 1 had been the Executive Director of the Tree of Life for over 20 years, while his wife, Victim 2, and her adult child, Victim 3, were all long-time members of, and closely associated with, the Tree of Life.

“Melanie Harris sent threatening communications to a Jewish family using vile and inflammatory language,” said Jeffrey B. Veltri, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami Field Office. “The nature of her threats of violence towards the victims and their faith were clearly meant to evoke a climate of fear and intimidation. Such conduct cannot be tolerated.”

Harris was arrested for knowingly and intentionally transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce, a felony offense that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The investigation was conducted by the FBI Miami Field Office.

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