A man accused of sharing antisemitic messages and threats online, including a digitally altered image of himself pointing an assault rifle at Jews praying, has been charged by federal prosecutors.

Corbin Kauffman, 30, of Pennsylvania, reportedly also shared racist and Islamophobic material, including calling for or depicting images of “the killing of Jewish people, black people and Muslim people”, according to a statement from the US Attorney’s office.

Mr Kauffman is accused of having used an alias, “KingShekels”, to send a message showing an image of a notebook page with a swastika, dripping blood, with the words “murder your local Juden”.

He reportedly also sprayed antisemitic graffiti at a public park, defaced a display case at a Chabad centre in Maryland with white supremacist and antisemitic stickers, and posted photos of the vandalism.

He has been charged with a single count of interstate transmission of threats to injure another person, a crime which carries a jail sentence of up to five years, as well as a fine.

David Freed, the US Attorney for Middle District of Pennsylvania, described how “Pennsylvanians know all too well how dangerous these kinds of white supremacist threats can be,” a reference to the mass shooting last October at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the second largest city in the state.

Michael Harpster, head of the FBI office in Philadelphia, told Reuters that “while the FBI does not and will not police ideology, we stand ready to intervene whenever threatening language crosses the line into illegal activity.”

Mr Kauffman has been granted a pre-trial release, provided that he does not access the internet during this period.