A Mercer County man has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for posting online threats against members of the white community. U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced that Joshua Cobb, 24, from Trenton, New Jersey, had pleaded guilty to transmitting a threat in interstate commerce before U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch.
The case documents and court statements reveal that on December 17, 2022, Cobb used a social media platform to post a message threatening violence against white people. He expressed intentions to carry out an attack in New Jersey in 2023 and mentioned acquiring firearms for this purpose.
Cobb joined the U.S. Marine Corps in June 2023 but was discharged in May 2024 after law enforcement informed the Corps about his case. He admitted to writing the threatening post and provided details about potential targets such as a gym and an Aldi grocery store in Robbinsville, New Jersey.
In addition to his prison sentence, Cobb will undergo three years of supervised release. The investigation involved special agents from the FBI and task force officers from the Joint Terrorism Task Force under Acting Special Agent in Charge Terence Reilly's direction in Newark. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and several local police departments also contributed to the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Vera Varshavsky from the National Security Unit represented the government with support from the Department of Justice’s Counterterrorism Section.
Defense counsel was provided by Saverio Viggiano from the Office of the Public Defender.
