A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City has indicted Skyler AJ Rose, 22, of Ogden, Utah, on charges that include an attempted hate crime and explosives offenses. Prosecutors allege he wrote online, "I wanna blow up a synagogue," and investigators recovered six functional homemade pipe bombs from his bedroom. The grand jury returned the indictment on Wednesday, October 21, and the U.S. Department of Justice announced it on Thursday.
Court documents show that in November 2025, Rose ran a phone search for "synagogue Ogden" and used Google Maps to pinpoint a specific synagogue roughly three miles from where he lived. JNS reported that Congregation Brith Sholem, a Reform congregation founded more than a hundred years ago, is the sole synagogue in the city.
A month later, Rose allegedly began posting threats on social media. One read: "Greetings from America. Death to all Jews. I will devote my life to killing you! Heil Hitler!" Prosecutors say he also wrote "Death to Israel" and praised Adolf Hitler.
The FBI linked the posts to an internet address at Rose's home and alerted the Ogden Police Department. Officers arrived at the house on December 23, 2025. Ynet reported that Rose's mother confirmed he controlled the account and allowed the officers in. Inside his bedroom they found suspected explosive devices, prompting the evacuation of the home and the houses next to it. The devices were later made safe.
A second search yielded the six working pipe bombs, along with an inert device, explosive material and parts that could have gone into building further bombs. Investigators also took two AK-47-type rifles, magazines, ammunition and a cellphone.
Once a warrant was issued for the phone, prosecutors say, it revealed hundreds of cached images and screenshots of child sexual abuse material. Rose now faces five federal counts: attempting to commit a hate crime, possession of an unregistered destructive device, using explosives to threaten people and a building, and two counts covering the receipt and possession of child sexual abuse material.
In a detention memo filed on October 21, prosecutors urged the court to hold Rose until trial, warning that even confined at home he would be able to gather materials and assemble new bombs in a matter of days. "Defendant poses a completely unmanageable risk of danger to the community," they wrote. The memo adds that Rose was already being supervised by a state court, having entered a no contest plea in a case over the public firing of a homemade shotgun.
Rose has also faced charges in Utah state court since his December 2025 arrest. Local station KSL reported that those proceedings have not concluded.
Harmeet Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General who heads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, told a press conference on Thursday that Jews have faced antisemitism and anti-Israel hostility since October 7.
"Today's indictment stops in its tracks an alleged plan to carry out a violent attack on a synagogue," Dhillon said, adding that Rose "openly declared his hatred for Israel and his intent to kill Jews."
U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak said the case demonstrated the importance of federal and local agencies working together, and stressed that places of worship must be protected from intimidation and violence.
Rose was due to make his first federal court appearance in Salt Lake City on Friday, October 23. The charges are allegations only; he has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.
