The Mississippi man indicted last month in connection with setting the state’s largest synagogue on fire is facing two additional federal charges. 

Stephen Spencer Pittman, a 19-year-old who admitted to committing arson on Jackson’s Beth Israel Congregation in the early hours of Jan. 10 due to “the building’s Jewish ties,” was indicted by a federal grand jury this week on civil rights and arson offenses. The indictment adds additional counts to an earlier arson charge, making it a three-count indictment. 

“The Department of Justice will not tolerate attacks on houses of worship,” said Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general of civil rights at the Justice Department. “This superseding indictment shows that we will investigate and we will prosecute such vicious attacks that strike at the core of our country’s long tradition of religious liberty.”

According to court documents from his arrest, Pittman is alleged to have used gasoline to set fire to the house of worship. He referred to the institution as the “synagogue of Satan,” a historically antisemitic phrase that has been re-popularized by far-right commentator Candace Owens. 

Two Torah scrolls were destroyed in the fire, and five more were damaged. A Torah that survived the Holocaust, which was kept in a glass case, was unharmed. The congregation’s library and administrative office were also destroyed. The building also houses the offices of the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which supports Jewish life in the region. 

Synagogue leaders estimate it will take two or three years to rebuild. The 140 families that belong to Beth Israel — the only synagogue in Jackson, the state’s capital city —  are indefinitely holding services in a nearby church.  

If convicted on all federal counts, Pittman could face up to 50 years in prison and up to $750,000 in fines.