Leaders of the Columbus, Ohio Jewish community are furious after a judge released a suspended member of the Ohio National Guard, who had been charged with making antisemitic terrorist threats, from absolute house arrest.
"It’s mind-blowing. It’s completely unfathomable to believe that we find ourselves in this situation in this community," Jewish-Columbus President and CEO Joel Marcovitch told WSYX after the court ruled that Thomas Develin, 24, would be allowed to leave his home to go to work.
According to 10WBNS, court documents said that Develin, who was working as as security guard for Columbus Torah Academy at the time, posted selfies with a semi-automatic handgun on March 11 on the social media platform, Discord. He also wrote statements such as, “I’m at a Jewish school and about to make it everyone’s problem” and "The playground is about to turn into a self-defense situation."
Court documents also stated that Develin wrote he "wanted to shoot parents coming to pick up their children."
In March, he was charged with making online antisemitic threats, including threatening to shoot students at Columbus Torah Academy.
"My worry is, what if he does do something? Who do I blame? Where do I go? We are screaming at the top of our voices," Marcovitch said.
Marcovitch expressed outrage at Develin’s modified house arrest enabling him to go to work for the dangers it poses to the community.
"I think it’s troublesome. We left the court and we were scratching our heads," Marcovitch said. "It’s unfathomable that the judge would allow this person to leave their home because they feel they have a right to work before the trial/”