Mohammad Alkaramla, the Jordanian-American man convicted of mailing a bomb threat to the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in 2008, apparently was an anti-Semitic "lone wolf" not connected to any movement or terrorist group, authorities say.

More comforting to those affected by Alkaramla’s threats is the fact that he could receive up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on Sept. 29.

The 26-year-old West Rogers Park resident was convicted in a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer. He was arrested in March 2009 for mailing a letter to Ida Crown that was addressed to rabbis and leaders in the Jewish community.

The letter, received on New Year’s Eve 2008, stated ungrammatically, "Will Give You until 01.15.2009 to back OFF from Gaza in Palestine or will set our explosive in your areas, it very important to make a quick action before we make our decisions to set bombs in the fowling addresses." It then listed 22 addresses of Jewish schools and educational institutions across the city.

The incident caused schools to step up their security measures, in some cases at great additional cost, Rabbi Leonard Matanky, Ida Crown’s dean, told Chicago Jewish News in January 2009.

Alkaramla was identified by fingerprints made when he was arrested in 2003 in Chicago for possession of marijuana. The prints matched those found on the Ida Crown letter. He had also been under investigation for vandalizing several Chicago-area synagogues in 2009, although charges were never brought against him for those incidents, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Based on the fingerprint identification, the FBI searched his home in February 2009 and found a laptop computer that contained the threatening letter. The computer had also been used to make Google searches for "Jewish elementary schools in Chicago" and "bomb attack + Israel + letters," according to the Tribune.

Agents also found a book of outdated stamps that matched the stamp found on the letter – two swans forming a heart shape. No bombs or bomb-making materials were found. He was arrested on March 22, 2009.

Alkaramla, a Jordanian national, lived in the apartment on North Artesian Avenue with his parents and two sisters. At the time of his arrest, he told the Tribune that he was attending school to become an engineer. He denied sending the letter and told reporters he was being targeted by authorities because he is a Muslim.

Lonnie Nasatir, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, who has been following the case, said he was encouraged by how seriously law enforcement took the incident. "They threw as many counts as possible against him in the trial," he said.

"From following the trail and talking to prosecutors, (we believe) he wasn’t really tied to any organizational affiliation, to our knowledge," he said. "He was more of a lone wolf who had real anti-Jewish animus. But he was not necessarily someone who was part of a movement or was being urged by a group" to perform the action he did, Nasatir said.

He said he encourages community members who felt victimized by Alkaramla’s actions to send letters to Judge Pallmeyer urging her to sentence him to the maximum allowed by law.

"There is no place for someone to scare or threaten our community," he said. "If constituents from Ida Crown would tell (Pallmeyer) how their children were affected, how they were affected, it would be a relevant thing to bring up at the sentencing."

Both local and federal law enforcement officials "were incredibly responsive to me. They assured me they were working on this before we knew who (the perpetrator) was," he said.

Nasatir said he hopes the conviction "will have a chilling effect on others who may be willing to use these types of scare tactics. There will be repercussions."

Matanky, the Ida Crown dean, said that "despite someone’s intention to make our community feel uncomfortable and endangered, it’s gratifying to know that everyone is safe and that the authorities were able to apprehend him. When a person sends letters that list all the principals of all the day schools and all the addresses, whatever his intent or motivation, it was a real threat and caused unnecessary concern and expense."

All day schools "ended up incurring tremendous additional expenses for security, and the fear violated people’s sense of safety," he said. "For what he caused our community, I would hope he would get the maximum sentence."