USA v. Brown, Christopher Stephen
Amarillo, TX

Homegrown

Christopher Stephen Brown threatened to execute three prominent Jewish rabbis was federally charged in December 2021. Brown was charged via criminal complaint with interstate threatening communications. In Dec. 2021, Brown allegedly contacted Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish organization that has provided spiritual guidance and assistance to Jewish people since before the Holocaust. In a message sent via their website, Brown allegedly threatened to kill members of the Beth-Din, a Jewish rabbinical court. The message – which called for death to all Jews – also included a link to a video on Brown's YouTube channel, "Dr M Obidiah." On the channel, Brown, calling himself Madrikh Obidiah, said the Chabad Lubavitch chairman, vice chairman, and another leader's son must die. Two days later, Brown called Chabad Lubavitch headquarters in New York and allegedly left two voicemail messages stating that Madrikh Obidiah would "tear out" the rabbis' eyes and tongues and kill every rabbi he could find. The following day, he called the headquarters again and allegedly threatened to blow the leaders heads off. Brown was sentenced in January 2023 to two years in federal prison for threatening to execute three prominent Jewish rabbis.