Joe.My.God. LGBT News
From the Department of Justice:
The leader of a Neo-Nazi hate group ‘Atomwaffen’ was convicted today in U.S. District Court in Seattle of five federal felonies for his conspiracy to send threatening posters to journalists and employees of the Anti-Defamation League.
Kaleb Cole, 25, of Montgomery, Texas, was convicted of conspiracy, three counts of mailing threatening communications, and one count of interfering with a federally protected activity. The jury deliberated about 90 minutes following the two-day trial. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour scheduled sentencing for January 11, 2022.
According to records in the case and testimony at trial, Cole, and other members of Atomwaffen participated in a plot to intimidate journalists and others by mailing threatening posters or gluing the posters to victims’ homes.
The group focused primarily on those who are Jewish or journalists of color. Kaleb Cole created the posters, which told the recipients that “you have been visited by your local Nazis.”
The posters contained threatening images, such as a hooded figure preparing to throw a Molotov cocktail at a house. Another poster contained the words “Death to Pigs,” which is the same message that followers of Charles Manson scrawled in victims’ blood during a home invasion murder.
Conspiracy is punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Mailing a threatening communication is punishable by up to 5 years in prison. Interference with a federally protected activity is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Three other coconspirators have pleaded guilty and been sentenced. In August 2021, Cameron Shea, 25, of the Seattle area was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
A jury in Seattle has found Kaleb Cole, the one-time leader of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, GUILTY on all counts.
He conspired with other members of the group to carry out a nationwide campaign of harassment against journalists and activists. https://t.co/fLsMMSHMQF
— Nick Martin (@nickmartin) September 29, 2021