Sarasota man indicted on federal threat charge over Instagram videos vowing to 'hunt' Jewish people

A federal grand jury on Monday, Oct. 19, indicted a 45-year-old Sarasota man accused of posting Instagram videos in which he allegedly vowed to "hunt" Jewish people while displaying an arsenal of firearms, federal prosecutors in the Middle District of Florida said, according to reports by WGCU and WFTV.

Duncan Fraser MacDonald is charged with one count of transmitting communications in interstate or foreign commerce containing threats to injure another person. If convicted, he faces up to five years in federal prison. An indictment is a formal accusation, and MacDonald is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

What prosecutors allege

According to prosecutors, as reported by WGCU and WFTV, MacDonald posted videos to Instagram between Sept. 16 and Sept. 17 in which he showed numerous firearms and said he would hunt Jewish people and take them out because the Austrian painter was correct. Federal investigators read the Austrian painter remark as a reference to Adolf Hitler, according to an FBI affidavit described by WTSP 10 Tampa Bay.

The affidavit filed with the original criminal complaint describes four Instagram videos totaling about 1 minute and 25 seconds, WTSP reported. In them, the narrator displayed guns, ammunition and tactical gear. Other clips showed or discussed a flamethrower, a .50-caliber Bushmaster rifle, loaded magazines and a tactical vest. In one video, MacDonald allegedly said, "We're over here, gonna hunt Jews," according to the affidavit.

ABC News, reporting on the complaint after it was unsealed on Sept. 22, said the videos appeared to have been recorded in what was described as a hardware room of a residence. In one clip, the network reported, MacDonald allegedly said, "ping ping bulletproof vests, also locked and loaded." ABC News reported that the hunting remark was made over footage of racks of firearms. Another video showed MacDonald standing near a man holding a pistol who reportedly said he was MacDonald's nephew. That man has not been charged. ABC News stressed that all of the allegations against MacDonald are unproven.

How the case began

The investigation started with a tip. On Sept. 17, the community security director for the Jewish Federation & Foundation of Northeast Florida alerted the FBI's Jacksonville Joint Terrorism Task Force after a person who knew MacDonald reported the Instagram videos, according to WTSP. The person who flagged the videos took screenshots of the Instagram story posts, ABC News reported.

That person also received text messages in which MacDonald allegedly described a "Shabby service" as "epic" the following day, the affidavit says. An FBI agent wrote that he believed the phrase referred to Shabbat services, the weekly Jewish Sabbath observance. When the person told MacDonald that a tip had been filed with the FBI and that news outlets had been contacted, MacDonald allegedly brushed off the concern, replying "LMAO," according to ABC News.

Investigators obtained emergency subscriber information from T-Mobile and Meta, Instagram's parent company, and used Florida driver's license records to identify him, WTSP reported. In the fourth video, the narrator showed his face, and an FBI agent compared it with MacDonald's license photos and concluded they matched. Cell subscriber records placed him in Clay County, near Jacksonville, while his driver's license lists a Sarasota address, according to the affidavit.

Arrest in Arizona

MacDonald was arrested in Arizona under a federal arrest warrant tied to the criminal complaint. Prosecutors' account, as reported by WGCU and WFTV, gives the arrest date as Sept. 18; WTSP's earlier report, based on court filings, said he was arrested on Sunday, Sept. 20. At the time WTSP reported the arrest, he was awaiting extradition to Florida. He later made his initial appearance in federal court in Jacksonville on Friday, Oct. 16. The grand jury indictment followed three days later.

The key dates in the case, according to federal court records as reported by WGCU, WFTV, WTSP and ABC News, are below.

The FBI and the Clay County Sheriff's Office investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David B. Mesrobian is prosecuting it, WFTV reported. Information about an attorney for MacDonald was not immediately available.

The charge and the penalty

The federal statute at issue makes it a crime to send a communication across state lines or international borders that contains a threat to injure another person. Federal prosecutors routinely bring the charge over social media posts. Each violation carries a maximum of five years in prison. A judge would decide any sentence under federal sentencing guidelines, which can be increased when a defendant is found to have intentionally selected victims because of their religion.

A familiar pattern in Sarasota

It is not the first time a Sarasota resident has faced the same federal charge over threats aimed at Jewish people. In 2023, federal prosecutors in the Middle District of Florida charged Deep Alpesh Kumar Patel, then 21, with transmitting an interstate threat after he left a voicemail threatening the World Jewish Congress in New York. Patel pleaded guilty, admitted he had also called a synagogue in Temple Terrace, and was sentenced in 2024 to six months in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. As part of a hate crimes sentencing enhancement in that case, Patel agreed that he had intentionally selected Jewish or Israeli people as the targets of his threat.

What's next

MacDonald's case will proceed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville, where he is expected to be arraigned on the indictment and enter a plea. No trial date had been reported as of Tuesday. To win a conviction, prosecutors will have to show the posts were a true threat, which the U.S. Supreme Court has said requires proof that the speaker at least consciously disregarded a substantial risk that the words would be seen as threatening violence. MacDonald remains presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court.