Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Detroit News reports:
A Michigan man was sentenced Tuesday to 26 months’ incarceration for defacing a Jewish synagogue with swastikas and white supremacist group images. Nathan Weeden, 23, conspired with others as a member of The Base, a multi-state U.S. white supremacist group, to vandalize Temple Jacob in Hancock on Sept. 21, 2019.
A federal jury in January convicted the Houghton man for conspiracy against rights and damage to religious property under two civil rights statutes.
The FBI arrested Weeden in Saline after an indictment against him was unsealed. Weeden and other members of The Base used an encrypted messaging platform to plan vandalization of property associated with African Americans and Jewish Americans, including the Temple Jacob vandalization, investigators said.
From the Justice Department:
Weeden’s co-conspirators, Richard Tobin, of New Jersey, and Yousef Barasneh, of Wisconsin, both previously pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges related to the incident.
The evidence at trial established that, in September 2019, Weeden, Tobin and Barasneh, all members of The Base, used an encrypted messaging platform to discuss vandalizing property associated with Black and Jewish Americans.
Weeden and his co-conspirators dubbed their plan, “Operation Kristallnacht” — a term that means “Night of Broken Glass,” and refers to events that took place on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, when Nazis murdered Jews and burned and destroyed their homes, synagogues, schools and places of business.
Weeden carried out this plan on Sept. 21, 2019, when he spray-painted swastikas and symbols associated with The Base on the outside walls of Temple Jacob.
No mugshot because the feds don’t release them anymore.
Nathan Weeden, a 24-year-old resident of Michigan was sentenced to serve 26 months in prison after he was found guilty of defacing Jacob Synagogue with Swastikas and symbols associated with his white supremacist group.https://t.co/eR3NjbQOFe
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) June 4, 2024