SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A man described by federal prosecutors as a neo-Nazi has been convicted of a hate crime targeted against Georgia House Representative Esther Panitch.
Ariel Collazo Ramos, 32, of High Point, North Carolina, was found guilty of one count of mailing threatening communications.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
According to court documents, Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar of Temple Beth Israel testified before the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee in support of an antisemitism bill co-sponsored by State Representative Esther Panitch, the only Jewish member of the Georgia House of Representatives. It was signed into law on Jan. 31, 2024.
Prosecutors say Ramos sent Panitch and Bahar antisemitic postcards around the same time as the signing of the bill.
Investigators say the postcards read “Jews are rats,” with a drawing of a man wearing a rat costume.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Microsoft reveals new datacenter for Atlanta, to be help create worlds 1st ‘AI superfactory’
- Woman found along highway 9 years ago. Now, a shell casing has sent a DeKalb man to prison
- Chick-fil-A tests Chicken & Waffles items
They added that at the time, Ramos ran an at-home business called “Patriot Candle Company,” where he sold candles, postcards and more showing racial, antisemitic and white nationalist themes.
Ramos faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 8, 2026.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2025 Cox Media Group
