ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis man was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in federal prison for threatening to blow up a local synagogue in 2021.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Cody Steven Rush, 30, admitted calling the St. Louis office of the FBI several times on Nov. 5, 2021, to make his threat.
Rush identified himself and his intended target – the Central Reform Congregation in the Central West End. He told agents he planned to act the following morning when people were inside the synagogue.
He called back later and made the same threat, prosecutors said.
Rush called the FBI a third time and told agents where he was, which was on the same street as the synagogue. Authorities called Rush back and he made threats again.
Officers with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the St. Louis County Police Department, and FBI agents went to Rush’s location and arrested him without incident.
Rush allegedly told authorities, “I am feeling suicidal and homicidal. I just feel like killing Jews.”
Rush pleaded guilty in August to use of a telephone and instrument of interstate commerce to make a threat.
Lucille Liggett, Rush’s attorney, told the court prior to sentencing that her client suffers from mental health issues, suffered a brain injury, and has PTSD. U.S. District Court Judge Henry Autrey ordered Rush to undergo a mental health evaluation while in prison and when he’s released.