Bucks County man charged with ethnic intimidation of Hanover church after Auschwitz float controversy

A Bucks County man is facing felony charges of ethnic intimidation for allegedly threatening to turn the St. Joseph Catholic School into a “concentration camp” after a controversial parade float, court documents show.

Joseph William Gilleo II, 28, of Morrisville in Bucks County, was charged with felony counts of ethnic intimidation and terroristic threats to cause serious public inconvenience, as well as misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and harassment, according to charging documents filed by the Penn Township Police Department on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.

Gilleo was not yet arraigned on the charges, court records show.

No attorney was listed for Gilleo in court records, who could not be reached for comment.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Penn Township Police, the charges stem from a voicemail that Gilleo allegedly left for the principal of the St. Joseph Catholic School on Grandview Road in Penn Township.

Police were called by the pastor of the church around 8:50 a.m. on Saturday morning, Nov. 1, after the principal of the school had received a concerning voicemail that was left around 8:15 a.m., court documents said.

A recording of that message was provided to investigators, who transcribed it in the affidavit, police said.

In the message, Gilleo allegedly called school officials “Nazi sympathizers” and allegedly told them “maybe we should turn your little school into a concentration camp,” court documents said.

Gilleo allegedly mused in the message that it was “maybe time to persecute you religious (expletive) nuts like the psychopaths you are,” adding that “your children are now in danger” and that their God “will not save you from what happens next,” according to court documents.

The voicemail came amid widespread controversy over a replica of the Auschwitz concentration camp gate — bearing the infamous phrase “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work sets you free) — on a Halloween parade float for the school during the Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025 Hanover Halloween Parade.

As a result of the message, the church told police it was canceling at least two evening events on Nov. 1 and 2, the documents state.

Investigators found that the phone number was linked to a Bucks County woman they identified as the mother of Gilleo, the charging documents state.

Police were then able to confirm that Gilleo was the primary user of the number associated with the call, and family members identified the voice on the message as that of Gilleo, according to the affidavit.