Federal prosecutors announced charges against four more people Oct. 30 in a conspiracy case alleging threats and vandalism against the Jewish Federation of Detroit in Bloomfield Township, University of Michigan leaders and businesses with perceived ties to Israel.

The superseding indictment brings the total number of defendants to 12, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The newly charged defendants are Joseph Mark Fisher, 23; Srishti Tarana Sharma, 23; Henry David MacKeen-Shapiro, 23; and Aaron Hunter Vonbargen, 25. Prosecutors said MacKeen-Shapiro and Vonbargen had been arrested and were scheduled to appear in court Oct. 30. Fisher and Sharma remained at large as of that date, JNS reported in The Jewish News.

Fisher faces two counts of conspiracy to transmit threats, JNS reported. Sharma faces one conspiracy count and a charge of aiding and abetting the destruction of property to prevent seizure.

Alleged acts

The superseding indictment was filed Oct. 21 and unsealed Oct. 30, JNS reported.

The Justice Department said the defendants used encrypted messaging apps, social media and overseas collaboration tools to research and target victims. Prosecutors allege the group spray-painted threats, broke windows and threw glass jars filled with noxious chemicals into family homes.

Prosecutors also allege that participants marked homes and workplaces with red inverted triangles and red handprints, which the department described as symbols associated with Hamas.

On Oct. 7, 2024, conspirators allegedly vandalized the federation’s offices, covering surveillance cameras with paint and adding red inverted triangles and anti-Israel messages, according to JNS’s account of the indictment.

The offices are in Bloomfield Township, where local police investigated the vandalism alongside other agencies, WXYZ reported at the time.

Prosecutors, FBI respond

“From Pharaoh to Hitler to Hamas, those who terrorize Jews have been the bad guys,” U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. said in the federal announcement. “As Americans, our job is to fight the bad guys.”

Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, said: “Those who believe they can threaten families, hide behind a group, and avoid accountability should think again.”

Background

The original eight defendants were charged in June and have pleaded not guilty, according to an Associated Press report.

They are Paige Feyock, Amatullah Hakim, Zainab Hakim, Ahmet Korkaya, Mariam Odeh, Alexander Sepulveda, Colin Weger and Jonathan Zou, according to the Justice Department’s original announcement.

Prosecutors allege the conspiracy sought to pressure the university and businesses into cutting perceived ties to Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

The university has said less than 0.1% of its endowment is placed with funds that might include companies in Israel, according to AP.

After the first round of charges, John Philo of the Sugar Law Center in Detroit said the federal government was “seeking to bring federal charges for acts traditionally reserved to local prosecutors,” AP reported.

All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.