A Washington man who led a Neo-Nazi group responsible for intimidating journalists and advocates in several states by mailing or attaching threatening posters to victims’ homes was recently sentenced to seven years in prison.
Kaleb James Cole, 25, was convicted Sept. 29, 2021, on one count of conspiracy, three counts of mailing threatening communications, and one count of interfering with a federally protected activity, a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release said. He was sentenced on Jan. 11.
“Threats motivated by religious intolerance are antithetical to American values, even more so when they aim to intimidate journalists and others who are working to expose bigotry in our society.” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the release. “The defendant led a multi-state plot by a neo-Nazi group to threaten and intimidate journalists and advocates who were doing important work to expose anti-Semitism around the country. The Justice Department will continue to investigate and prosecute these hateful acts.”
Cole is a leader of Atomwaffen Division, a Neo-Nazi group operating since 2016 that developed on the now-defunct Iron March internet forum, a description on the Anti-Defamation League website said. In addition to threats and the propagation of extreme rhetoric, “members of Atomwaffen have already been connected to several murders in the group’s short history.”
“Kaleb Cole helped lead a violent, nationwide neo-Nazi group,” U.S. Attorney Nick Brown for Washington's Western District said in the release. “He repeatedly promoted violence, stockpiled weapons, and organized ‘hate camps’. Today the community and those Mr. Cole and his co-conspirators targeted, stand-up to say hate has no place here.”
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence of the group “mailing threatening posters or gluing the posters to victims’ homes” in January 2020, the release said. The posters, often containing threatening images, said “you have been visited by your local Nazis.” The group primarily targeted people of Jewish descent and people of color working as journalists or advocates.
Victims testified at trial how the group’s actions impacted their lives.
“Some moved from their homes for a time or installed security systems,” the release said. “One purchased a firearm and took a firearms safety class. Another started opening her mailbox with a stick due to fear of what might be inside. One left her job as a journalist.”
Three of Cole's co-conspirators, Cameron Shea, Johnny Roman Garza and Taylor Ashley Parker-Dipeppe, previously entered guilty pleas and have been sentenced, the release said. Cole is currently being held in the administrative security SeaTac Federal Detention Center in Seattle, according to an online inmate search.
“Mr. Cole displayed through his actions that his beliefs were more than just rhetoric,” Special Agent in Charge Donald Voiret of the FBI’s Seattle Field Office said in the release. “No doubt, the exemplary work of our investigators and partners prevented Cole’s targets from becoming victims of violence.”
