Authorities say the 18-year-old man charged with making threats to Jewish community centers in Florida also threatened state Sen. Ernie Lopez.

In a statement issued April 24, Lopez, a Republican who represents the Cape Region’s Senate District 6, thanked law enforcement agencies for their work and said, “Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, I will have no further comments and respectfully request that members of my family be given privacy.”

Michael Ron David Kadar, who holds dual citizenship in the United States and Israel, was charged April 21 with making threatening calls to Jewish community centers in Florida, falsely reporting to police that people were harmed in Georgia and cyberstalking, the U.S. Justice Department said in a press release.

“This kind of behavior is not a prank, and it isn't harmless. It’s a federal crime,” said Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey. “It scares innocent people, disrupts entire communities, and expends limited law enforcement resources.”

Media outlets, including the Associated Press, NBC News and CNN, reported Kadar also targeted Lopez. CNN reported Kadar demanded payment via Bitcoin from Lopez, and he threatened to order illegal drugs online and send them to Lopez's house if he didn't pay.

Kadar is also facing charges related to those threats, Lopez's statement said.

Multiple bomb threats were called in to more than a dozen schools throughout the state, including several schools in the Cape Henlopen School District, in January, February and October 2016, as well as January 2017. Three threats also were called in to the Siegel Jewish Community Center, with the latest reported in February 2017.

In 2016, Lopez publicly spoke out against whoever was threatening Delaware schools.

"Let me make something perfectly clear to those who continue to try to instill fear into moms and dads, grandparents and our community as a whole: your actions are despicable and when you are discovered you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Lopez wrote in a 2016 statement.

In January 2016, Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown, said the calls were being routed from overseas, making it difficult for investigators to pinpoint a suspect.

Officials of the Delaware Attorney General's Office, the U.S. Attorney General's Office for the District of Delaware and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to clarify whether Kadar is facing charges related to the threats to Delaware institutions. The Israeli Ministry of Justice did not respond to the Cape Gazette's request for an affidavit outlining the charges Kadar faces from Israeli authorities, including the threats made to Lopez and others.

An investigation into violent threats made to Jewish community centers, schools and other institutions nationwide is continuing, as is an investigation into potential hate crime charges, the press release states.

A federal criminal complaint filed in Orlando, Fla., states Kadar made multiple threatening calls, including bomb threats and active-shooter scares, to numerous Jewish community centers throughout Florida between Jan. 4 and March 7. While no explosives were found in any of the incidents, the calls resulted in evacuations, lock-downs and temporary closures of the targeted facilities and required law enforcement and emergency personnel to respond to clear the areas.

Another complaint filed in Macon, Ga., states Kadar called police about Jan. 3 and reported an emergency situation involving multiple people at a private residence in Athens, Ga. Police responded and found no emergency, the press release states.

This matter is under investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia, the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice, and the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section, the press release states.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.