A New Jersey man who camped on the steps of one of Washington's most prominent Catholic churches with more than 100 homemade explosive devices and a nine-page list of demands has pleaded guilty to two federal felony counts, court records show.
Louis Geri of Vineland, New Jersey, entered his guilty plea Thursday to illegal possession of a destructive device and extortion by wrongful use of force, violence or fear. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss is scheduled to sentence Geri on July 27. Geri remains jailed until that date.
Geri was arrested Oct. 5 outside St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C., where police were clearing the area in advance of the annual Red Mass, a ceremony celebrating the start of the Supreme Court's term. Some justices usually attend that celebration, though none attended last year's ceremony.
According to AP News, on the eve of the Red Mass, Geri set up a tent on the steps leading into the church and spent the night inside it. According to a court filing accompanying his guilty plea, Geri had more than 100 explosive devices inside that tent, along with a nine-page "list of written demands."
The scope of the alleged threat was not subtle. The court filing states plainly what Geri intended:
The defendant intended to use the threat of death or significant property damage from these explosive devices to coerce negotiations regarding his demands from the Federal Government, St. Matthew's Church, the Supreme Court of the United States, and other groups and entities.
When police confronted Geri, he told officers he had explosive devices and, according to the court filing, warned them directly:
Several of your people are gonna die from one of these.
That threat was conditioned on his demands not being met. Those demands, according to the filing, included requests for money, an "expatriation flight" to Japan, and for the Supreme Court to "remove the state of Arizona from the U.S."
Police said they found paperwork in Geri's possession that expressed "significant animosity" toward the Roman Catholic church, Jewish people, the Supreme Court, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Authorities have not publicly confirmed a specific motive beyond what the demands and paperwork reveal.
Geri was initially charged in D.C. Superior Court but ultimately pleaded guilty in federal court. An attorney for Geri did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Geri and the government agreed that a prison term ranging from five years and 10 months to seven years and three months would be appropriate. Judge Moss is not bound by that recommendation. However, if the judge imposes a longer sentence than the agreed range, Geri could withdraw his guilty plea.
Investigators will need to establish how Geri constructed and transported more than 100 devices to a location in the heart of the nation's capital. The court filing referenced those devices, but public details about their composition and capability have not been disclosed.
Geri's sentencing before Judge Moss will determine whether the agreed-upon range holds or whether the court deems it appropriate to impose a different term. Until then, Geri remains behind bars.
A man showed up at a cathedral steps away from the seat of American judicial power, armed with more than 100 explosive devices and a list of demands targeting the federal government and the Supreme Court itself. That he was stopped before anyone was killed is a credit to the officers who responded. Whether five to seven years in federal prison is a sentence that matches the gravity of threatening to blow up a church on the doorstep of the nation's highest court is a question Judge Moss will have to answer.
