A New Jersey man has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison after bringing more than 100 homemade explosive devices to a Washington, D.C., cathedral that was preparing to host a Mass traditionally attended by U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Louis Geri was arrested last year outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, where the annual “Red Mass” was scheduled for Supreme Court justices, government officials and members of the legal profession.
He initially faced local charges including unlawful entry, threats to kidnap or injure and possession of a Molotov cocktail. 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, followed by three years of supervised release. Geri declined to speak at sentencing.
According to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, the Red Mass is traditionally held shortly before the Supreme Court begins its new term and has historically drawn justices and other prominent legal and government figures. No Supreme Court justices attended the 2025 Red Mass.
On the morning of Oct. 5, 2025, police encountered Geri in a tent he had set up on the cathedral’s front steps shortly before the service was scheduled to begin. Authorities said Geri repeatedly refused orders to leave and threatened to throw one of the explosive devices into the street to demonstrate its destructive force.
The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department said officers found “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 ultimately recovered more than 100 explosive devices.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI laboratory testing later determined that the devices were operable improvised explosives.
Geri was also carrying a list of demands that included requests for hundreds of thousands of dollars, an expatriation flight to Japan and for the Supreme Court to remove Arizona from the United States and declare it a “foreign enemy.”
Prosecutors said he 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 recovered writings in which Geri expressed hostility toward the Catholic Church, Jewish people, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Supreme Court.
