John Andrew Maddi, 39, of Clinton Township, was charged after police say he admitted on Dec. 15 that he framed his former friend Korin Carl for sending anti-Semitic email messages to the Honesdale business owner, who told state police he is of Jewish descent.
Carl was charged for the first time with the crime, and a press release from the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office was sent to the media at 11:32 am on December 15. After Maddi turned herself in to state police at 2:15 pm, a second press release was issued on December 16, stating that all charges against Carl had been dropped, and charges had been filed against Maddi instead.
The criminal complaint filed by Trooper Christine Lashinski states that on Dec. 7, the owner reported receiving an email with an address identifying Carl, a former employee of the business, as the sender.
“The email contained three cartoons, two of which were anti-Semitic and one depicting a swastika. The email also included explicit anti-Semitic language that put the victims in fear for their safety,” the complaint states.
After Carl was initially charged, the complaint states that on the afternoon of December 15, Maddi “arrived at PSP Honesdale and reported that he had to confess to a crime he committed and wanted to clear the name of the individual who was falsely accused.”
Trooper George Weitz advised Maddi of his Miranda Warning before speaking further. Maddi said he wanted to continue talking, according to the police.
According to the complaint, Maddi said he was hired in the company in February 2025. He said he worked with Carl from mid-February to mid-March. “He related that he thought everything was going well but he received a call from them sometime in March that they fired him out of nowhere,” the complaint states. Maddi said that he was told that Carl was complaining about him behind his back.
Maddi said that even though he invited him to come back about two weeks later after Carl left the business, “he felt that it was not good for him and he felt that they made him dirty,” the complaint says.
“He related that he decided to get back at her by playing a tasteless prank on her,” the complaint states.
Maddi said he created a Yahoo email in Carl’s identity and sent an email to the business with the closing subject line that the sender wanted to do business as a customer, according to the complaint.
“The defendant further related that the email contained verbiage of an anti-Semitic nature,” and pictures, the complaint states. He also stated in the email, “I believe your people should be exterminated,” and claimed to have recently become a neo-Nazi.
After seeing his former friend Carl on the news on December 15, accused of the crime, he wanted to take responsibility, says the complaint filed against Maddi. The accused gave his computer to the state police and identified the email address that had been used.
Maddi was charged with ethnic intimidation and criminal use of a communication facility, third degree felonies; terroristic threats, identity theft and forgery, first degree felonies; and additional crimes.
Peter Becker has worked at the Tri-County Independent or its predecessor publications since 1994. Reach him at pbecker@tricountyindependent.com.
This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Wayne Co. man put old coworker’s name on antisemitic email, police say