PHILADELPHIA, PA — Federal prosecutors said Monday that a Maryland man admitted to sending a barrage of threatening letters to synagogues and Jewish institutions across several states, concluding a sprawling investigation that alarmed faith communities from Washington, D.C. to Massachusetts.
Clift Seferlis, 55, of Garrett Park, entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Mark A. Kearney to 17 counts of mailing threatening communications and eight counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs. The plea followed charges filed last month and stemmed from a criminal complaint issued after his June arrest.
According to court filings, Seferlis used the U.S. Postal Service to mail at least 40 letters and two postcards between March 2024 and June 2025 to more than two dozen Jewish organizations, including synagogues, schools, community centers, museums, nonprofits, and even a Jewish delicatessen. Prosecutors said many of the messages contained explicit threats to destroy buildings or injure congregants and staff.
The communications were sent to institutions in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Fairfax, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Hagerstown, and Brookline, with multiple organizations receiving repeated threats. One Philadelphia institution received threatening mailings on six separate dates between April 2024 and May 2025.
Prosecutors said the threats also targeted religious worship itself. Seferlis admitted to obstructing or attempting to obstruct the free exercise of religious beliefs by threatening congregants at synagogues in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts. Some of those threats involved the claimed use of fire, explosives, or other dangerous weapons.
Seferlis waived venue for institutions located outside the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, allowing the consolidated charges to proceed in Philadelphia.
He faces a maximum possible sentence of 169 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines totaling $5,650,000. Sentencing is set for March 16.
The investigation was led by FBI Philadelphia, with support from FBI Baltimore, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. The Anti-Defamation League, Secure Community Network, and Delaware Valley Intelligence Center also assisted.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Dubnoff and Justice Department Trial Attorney Taylor Payne are prosecuting the case.
For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and MSN.