NJ man gets nearly 6 years in prison for taking over 100 explosives to church hosting mass for Supreme Court justices
A New Jersey man was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for bringing more than 100 homemade explosive devices to a church in the nation's capital that was preparing to host a Mass traditionally attended by U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Louis Geri was arrested last year after he was found with explosives outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, which was hosting the annual “Red Mass” for the justices and other legal professionals.
Geri was initially arrested on preliminary local charges of unlawful entry, threats to kidnap or injure a person, and possession of a Molotov cocktail, before federal prosecutors later charged him with Hobbs Act extortion and possession of an unregistered firearm.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss sentenced Geri on Monday to five years and 10 months in prison, plus three years of supervised release. Geri declined to address the court.
Moss explained that his sentencing reflected both the danger that Geri poses to the public and his history of “very serious mental health issues,” reported the Associated Press.
“This was an extremely serious offense,” stated Moss, as quoted by the AP. “It may have been carried out in a bizarre manner, but the threat of violence was a serious one.”
According to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, the Red Mass “dates back many centuries” and gets its name from “the color of the liturgical vestments worn by the celebrants and the color of fire, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.”
The John Carroll Society, an organization based in the District of Columbia that ministers to Catholic legal professionals, co-hosts the annual worship service alongside the archdiocese.
The service is held annually shortly before the start of the Supreme Court's term, and the justices, along with other government officials and legal professionals, have traditionally attended. However, no Supreme Court justices attended the 2025 Red Mass.
On the morning of Oct. 5, 2025, shortly before the Red Mass was to begin, police discovered Geri in a tent outside the church, where he had set up a tent on the church’s front steps.
Geri refused multiple requests to follow police orders to leave the property and threatened to throw one of his explosive devices into the street to demonstrate its destructive power. He also told officers that “several of your people are gonna die from one of these” if federal agents did not negotiate his demands.
According to a D.C. Metropolitan Police Department press release, Geri was arrested without incident, with authorities discovering “multiple suspicious items, including vials of liquid and possible fireworks, inside of the suspect’s tent.”
“Members of MPD’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team and the Arson Task Force responded to the scene to search the suspect’s belongings. The scene has been secured and there is no threat to public safety,” stated police, who eventually found more than 100 explosive devices.
The investigation included personnel from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, testing by an FBI laboratory later confirmed that the devices were improvised explosive devices in operable condition.
Geri also carried a nine-page list of written demands, which included requests for hundreds of thousands of dollars, an expatriation flight to Japan and that the Supreme Court remove Arizona from the United States and declare it a “foreign enemy.”
Prosecutors said Geri also threatened to use the explosives against people and property, including St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the White House, the Washington Monument, the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court.
Authorities also uncovered writings by Geri in which he expressed contempt for the Catholic Church, Jewish people, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Supreme Court.
In March, Geri pleaded guilty to one count of Hobbs Act extortion by wrongful use of force, violence or fear and one count of possession of an unregistered firearm, which prosecutors described as a destructive device.
According to the DOJ, Geri admitted after his arrest that he intended to use the threat of force to coerce negotiations and was willing to use the devices to harm people and property.
Geri was sentenced to 70 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Federal prosecutors had requested an 87-month prison sentence.
