DETROIT — A federal grand jury has indicted an Upper Peninsula man accused of posting online threats to attack and kill people, U.S. Attorney Mark Totten announced Wednesday.
The indictment was filed 12 days after FBI agents arrested Seann Patrick Pietila, 19, of Pickford, and accused him of threatening a mass killing at an East Lansing synagogue on the fifth anniversary of an attack that killed 51 people in New Zealand.
Pietila is accused of making threats on Instagram and sending messages about neo-nazism, antisemitism and plans to mimic other mass shooters. The indictment includes two charges of transmitting threatening communications in interstate commerce — each a five-year felony — and one count of threatening to kill or injure by means of fire. That charge carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
“No one should face violent threats because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or any other status,” Totten said in a statement, noting a rise in antisemitism nationwide and in Michigan.
Pietila is detained at the Newaygo County Jail while awaiting trial.
Pietila is accused of making the threats in early June in Ingham County. Pietila, who attended Lansing Eastern High School as recently as the 2020-21 school year, told investigators he had moved to Pickford earlier this month from a home near the Michigan State University campus.
Investigators searched his home 45 miles northeast of the Mackinac Bridge and discovering a cache of weapons, knives, tactical equipment, a red-and-white Nazi flag and makeshift plans for killing members of the Shaarey Zedek congregation in East Lansing on March 15, 2024, according to court records. That is the anniversary of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand.
“The crimes alleged in this indictment have made members of our community feel unsafe as they practice their religion. No American should fear engaging in their constitutionally protected rights,” James Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI in Michigan, said in a statement. “I appreciate the coordinated efforts of our state and local law enforcement partners to disrupt this defendant before he could put his plans into action.”
The indictment quotes a June 1 Instagram message between Pietila and an unidentified user that references plans for an attack.
"I don't be taken alive I'll make sure of that. Remember 'Heil Hitler!,'" Pietila wrote. "I just need a camera for streaming and some more magazines. Don't wanna run out of mags and have to reload one."
In another message, Pietila uses the initials "B.T." in an apparent reference to Brenton Tarrant, who is serving life in prison for killing 51 people and injured 40 others in the Christchurch attacks.
"Don't wanna seem like a copycat attack," he wrote to another Instagram user. "We time it a day after each other. We would surely inspire others to take arms against the Jewish controlled state. I only chose the 15th to mimic b.t's attack lol."
During the search at his home, investigators seized Pietila's phone and searched his Notes app, according to the government. One note referenced Shaarey Zedek in East Lansing, listed the date March 15, 2024, and equipment, including Molotov cocktail firebombs, a shotgun and other weapons.
"Oh for sure I'm taking some homemade Napalm to burn some bodies!," he wrote in a June 2 Instagram message.
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