Violent, anti-Semitic messages send Los Angeles man to federal prison

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 messages.

Andre Lackner of Northridge pleaded guilty to one count of stalking in January and admitted to sending text messages such as “I want to see every Jew exterminated from this earth” and “I will make sure to kill a Jew.” , according to court documents. .

He faces 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 briefly dated and ended their relationship on amicable terms, according to court documents.

MS encouraged Lackner to seek help when he began sending her messages about hurting himself and others. She reported Lackner to the FBI after receiving openly threatening and anti-Semitic messages.

These messages made him “fear for his safety, that of his family and that of the community as a whole,” a sentencing memorandum states.

“Maybe Hitler had something to do with it,” one message said. “You must be taken 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 “spark more Asian hatred.”

Court documents say Lackner had a history of posting threats online about mass shootings at schools, on cruise ships and at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

In 2017, he called his former Venice High School teacher and threatened to kill her and her family, documents state. Four days later, he appeared in a park where the teacher was walking her dog. He was arrested and convicted of criminal threats with intent to terrorize.

MS stopped responding to Lackner's messages shortly after they turned violent and eventually blocked him, according to sentencing documents. She told law enforcement that Lackner knew her family was Jewish and wrote that “he might remember where my family currently lives” and “he might try to go there and hurting Jews.”

Lackner has been in federal custody since December 2022.