New Jersey man sentenced for threatening to bomb cathedral before Supreme Court service
A New Jersey man has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for threatening to detonate more than 100 homemade bombs outside a cathedral in Washington, D.C., according to federal prosecutors. The threat prevented Supreme Court justices from attending an annual religious service.
Louis Geri, 42, of Vineland, N.J., was sentenced on Monday to 70 months in prison and three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. He pleaded guilty on March 5 to extortion through force, violence or fear and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
The incident began on the evening of October 4, 2025, when Louis Geri rode his motorcycle to St. Matthew’s Cathedral in the 1700 block of Rhode Island Avenue NW and pitched a tent on its front steps.
Inside the tent, he assembled more than 100 explosive devices using materials purchased in Arkansas and put together in Virginia. He also brought a nine-page list of demands.
The cathedral was scheduled to hold the Red Mass the following morning, an annual religious service attended by Supreme Court justices, Cabinet members, lawmakers and diplomats.
At about 5 a.m., Washington police officers patrolling before the service approached the tent and told the suspect he needed to move. He refused and threatened to throw an explosive device into the street to show its destructive power.
He told officers that “several of your people are gonna die from one of these” if federal agents did not arrive to negotiate his demands, according to the plea agreement.
Those demands included hundreds of thousands of dollars for himself and others, an extended stay at the Mayflower Hotel and a flight to Japan to expatriate.
He also demanded that the Supreme Court remove Arizona from the United States and declare it a “foreign enemy,” along with numerous demands directed at Catholic and Jewish leaders.
Officers set up a barricade around the tent and arrested the suspect at about 5:53 a.m. when he briefly stepped outside. They found an explosive device and a butane lighter in his pocket, then recovered more than 100 additional devices from the tent.
FBI laboratory testing confirmed that the devices were functioning improvised bombs. After his arrest, the suspect described the devices as “grenades” and “rockets.”
He admitted that he intended to use threats of force to compel negotiations and was willing to use the explosives against people and property, including the cathedral, White House, Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court.
“Threatening to detonate explosive devices at a house of worship during an important historic religious service, known as the Red Mass, is an attack on our community and on the fundamental right to worship freely,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “Defendant Geri chose to terrorize a sacred space, St. Matthew’s Cathedral, and endanger officers and parishioners, thereby preventing Supreme Court Justices from attending an annual religious event.”
The post New Jersey man sentenced for threatening to bomb cathedral before Supreme Court service appeared first on BNO News.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
