Former El-Sayed Campaign Worker Among 12 Charged in Federal Intimidation Case as Michigan Senate Race Goes to Voters
A former worker on Democrat Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan Senate campaign is among 12 people now charged in a sprawling federal intimidation case, a development that has resurfaced as voters decide his race against Republican Mike Rogers.
Mariam Odeh, 24, was first indicted in June with seven others accused of targeting University of Michigan officials, businesses and Jewish organizations. Federal prosecutors announced Friday that four more defendants had been charged.
A Brief Stint on the Campaign
Odeh worked as an hourly employee on El-Sayed's campaign, according to campaign finance records and reporting by The Detroit News. A campaign spokeswoman said she worked there for about two weeks before leaving on April 15, and records show two payments totaling nearly $750.
Her short employment does not show that El-Sayed or his campaign had any role in the alleged crimes. The campaign and Odeh's lawyers did not respond to the New York Post's requests for comment on the new indictments.
What Prosecutors Allege
Prosecutors say the defendants took part in a coordinated campaign, launched after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, to pressure the University of Michigan into cutting ties with Israel.
According to the indictment, the group researched targets' home addresses, photos, businesses and personal connections before carrying out what it called "autonomous actions."
Those alleged actions included vandalizing homes, breaking windows, blocking entrances and spray-painting threats and anti-Israel slogans. Prosecutors also say jars of noxious chemicals were thrown into family homes and photos of the damage were posted online.
Some properties were marked with inverted red triangles, which prosecutors described as symbols Hamas uses to mark targets. Messages posted after the alleged attacks included the warning "you cannot hide."
Targets allegedly included the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, university regents and leaders, law enforcement personnel and businesses seen as tied to Israel.
Odeh is charged with conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate and foreign commerce, which carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors also say she took part in a 2024 action at a Rolls-Royce Solutions America facility in Detroit, where doors were padlocked and slogans were spray-painted outside.
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The four new defendants are Henry MacKeen-Shapiro, Aaron Vonbargen, Joseph Fisher and Srishti Sharma. MacKeen-Shapiro and Vonbargen were arrested last week, while Fisher and Sharma were still at large when the charges were announced.
FBI Detroit Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan said authorities would keep pursuing people accused of using threats and intimidation against families. All 12 defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The superseding indictment contains allegations rather than findings of guilt, and the defendants will have the chance to contest the charges in court.
A Race Still Too Close to Call
El-Sayed has previously suggested politics played a role in the prosecution, questioning whether activists were targeted partly for their views.
The Senate race itself has been rated a tossup. In mid-October, an election data analyst counted 520,541 early and absentee votes, with 256,859 attributed to Democrats and 253,209 to Republicans, a gap of just 3,650.
The same model gave El-Sayed and Rogers identical projected ranges of 46 to 52 percent, leaving the outcome to Tuesday's voters.