Jordanian charged in threat to Jewish school

At a morning federal court appearance, Mohammed Alkaramla was ordered held pending a hearing Tuesday morning.

A postage stamp, a fingerprint and a Google search led authorities to arrest a West Rogers Park man this morning on charges he sent a bomb threat to a Jewish school.

Alkaramla, 24, a Jordanian national who lives on the 6000 block of North Artesian Avenue, was charged today with mailing the threatening letter to Ida Crown Jewish Academy, 2828 W. Pratt Blvd., in late December.

According to a criminal complaint made public by the FBI, the typewritten letter read "Will Give You until 01.15.2009 to back OFF from Gaza in Palestine or will set our explosive in your areas, it very important to make a quick action before we make our decisions to set bombs in the fowling [sic] addresses:"

The letter went on to list addresses for 22 Chicago-area Jewish schools, the complaint said. No explosives were found near Ida Crown or any other Jewish school.

Forensic investigators used a fingerprint from the letter's envelope and matched it to Alkaramla, who had previously been arrested for cannabis possession in 2003, authorities said. A search of the apartment where Alkaramla lived with his parents and two sisters was then conducted last month.

During that search, agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force found a book of postage stamps - bearing a picture of two swans forming a heart shape - that matched the stamp affixed to the bomb threat letter.

Agents also seized a laptop computer from Alkaramla's apartment, and subsequent analysis of the computer's hard drive found the text of the threat letter and Google search terms such as "Bomb attack + Israel + letters," the complaint said.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Robert Milan. He described Alkaramla as a flight risk, noting his Jordanian citizenship.

Neighbors on Alkaramla's block said that about eight FBI agents came to the house around 6 a.m. this morning to arrest the man.

Eli Azzo, a neighbor and relative of Alkaramla's landlord, said he was surprised to hear Alkaramla was accused of a hate crime.

"He doesn't talk politics or religion, he's a real quiet guy," Azzo said. "I never gauged him that way as that kind of person."

In court, Alkarmla's attorney, Phil Bernstein, said his client had recently graduated from a college program and had not been in any trouble with the law before.

Bernstein said his client has strong ties to the community.

"It's a shock to his family and a shock to everybody who knows him," Bernstein said. "There's no indication he harbors any ill will toward anyone of any particular ethnicity or nationality in the city."

Alkarmla is the same man interviewed by federal authorities Feb. 12 when they searched his West Rogers Park apartment for evidence related to the vandalism of several synagogues and Jewish schools in Chicago and Lincolnwood.

Those incidents occurred on Jan. 10 in the wake of the Israeli airstrikes and troop incursions in the Gaza Strip.

But the FBI said this morning that he was only arrested in connection with a threatening letter sent to the Ida Crown on New Year's Eve.

On the day federal authorities executed the search warrant at the apartment, Rabbi Leonard Matanky, dean of Ida Crown, told the Tribune that the school received a bomb threat Dec. 31.

Sources said Alkaramla lived in New York before moving to West Rogers Park about a half dozen years ago.

After the search had been completed and authorities had left on Feb. 12, Alkaramla identified to reporters, telling them he was the target of the investigation. He denied wrongdoing and said he had been singled out by authorities because he is Muslim.

When asked why authorities would target him in particular, he said he had asked investigators the same question.

"I'm too busy studying and working to commit [hate crimes]," he said. He indicated that he was attending school to be an engineer.

--Jeff Coen and Robert Mitchum