Buxton Man Sentenced for Threats Against the Jewish Community

PORTLAND, Maine: A Buxton man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Portland for transmitting a threatening interstate communication.

U.S. District Judge Jon D. Levy sentenced Brian Dennison, 27, to 12 months and one day in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Dennison was found guilty by a federal jury on December 7, 2023, following a three-day trial.

According to evidence presented during the trial, on September 8, 2021, Dennison posted on Twitter, “I’m going to kill jews with my ar15 tomorrow.” FBI investigators identified Dennison as the likely author of the threat and executed search warrants at his Buxton residence. Among the items seized were approximately 1,700 rounds of ammunition that could be fired from an AR-15-style rifle. Investigators also found evidence that Dennison had a long-standing animus toward Jewish people. In October 2021, investigators executed another search warrant at the property and found an AR-15-style rifle and ammunition in a case that had been hidden in the woods behind the residence.

In imposing sentence, Judge Levy noted that threats like the one Dennison communicated are corrosive and strain the fiber of our country. He also noted that the core liberties enshrined in the Constitution are undermined by threats based on someone’s faith.

“Brian Dennison communicated his violent anti-Semitic threat on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year celebration,” said Darcie McElwee, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine. “Such repugnant threats have no place in any society. I commend the FBI for its excellent investigative work in this case. Under the First Amendment, you have a right to believe hateful things, and to express those hateful beliefs in lawful ways. But when your speech constitutes a true threat to kill or injure others, you will be held accountable.”

“Our Maine Joint Terrorism Task Force is to be highly commended for its rapid response to Brian Dennison’s threat to commit mass murder with an assault rifle, born out of his long-standing hatred for Jewish people,” said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. “Hate has no place here in Maine, and the fact that Mr. Dennison had the actual means to carry out his articulated threat is chilling. Protecting human life is our absolute priority, and the FBI stands ready to intervene whenever threatening language crosses the line into illegal activity.”

The FBI and U.S. Border Patrol investigated the case.

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