“Threats to Jews and Journalists”: 7 years in prison for leader of a neo-Nazi organization in Washington
A few months after he was convicted on all counts of charges, including threats of terrorism and obstruction of investigative proceedings, a federal court sentenced 25-year-old Caleb Cole to 80 months in prison. Washington chief prosecutor: “Defendant tried to threaten journalists with messages full of hatred, but they chose to confront him in court and their courage led to his conviction and the sentence handed down today.”
A young man who identified himself as a “proud neo-Nazi” and was convicted of harassing and threatening to harm Jewish journalists and activists in three countries, was sentenced this week to seven years in prison in a federal prison.
Cole and his friends in the nuclear weapons movement (Photo: Federal Prosecutor’s Office)
Last September, the Seattle Federal Court convicted 25-year-old Caleb Cole of five serious offenses, including obstruction of justice, threats of terrorism and conspiracy to commit a crime. Yesterday he was sentenced to 80 months behind bars:
“Intolerance threats are the antithesis of the values of the American people, especially when their purpose is to intimidate journalists and others who try to expose the existing hatred of our society,” said Kristen Clark, a senior official in the Washington, D.C. Department of Justice. C., “In this case, the defendant led a neo-Nazi conspiracy to threaten and harm journalists working to expose anti-Semitism in the United States.”
Leader of Neo-Nazi Group Sentenced for Plot to Target Journalists and Advocateshttps://t.co/tHqY52m0rJ
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) January 11, 2022
Clark added that “the Department of Justice will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone behind these acts of hatred.”
Nick Brown, the federal prosecutor in Washington state where Cole was convicted, also referred to the sentence, saying: “Caleb Cole headed a national and violent neo-Nazi organization. He called for violence, collected large quantities of weapons and organized ‘hate camps.’ Cole. “He tried to threaten journalists with messages full of hatred, but they confronted him in court and their courage led to his conviction and the sentence received today.”
A poster sent to a journalist in Seattle, as presented by the FBI office in Seattle that investigated Cole (Photo: AP)
Cole, originally from Texas, belongs to the Atomic Weapons movement – a neo-Nazi organization operating throughout the United States. Along with three other young men, Cole was accused of sending letters to journalists and employees of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in Washington, Arizona and Florida.
Along with swastikas and other symbols identified with the Nazis, the five also sent explicit threats such as “You were visited by the Nazis”, “Your deeds will have bureaus” and “We are watching you”. One of the letters also included a picture of a man throwing a Molotov cocktail at a house, next to the caption “Death to the pigs” – the same chilling message found at the murder scenes committed by members of the “Manson family” sect.
In fact, Cole has been under surveillance by federal law enforcement for at least three years, as in 2018 he was arrested by the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) upon his return from Europe. Flags and similar objects belonging to the Nazis and more.
As mentioned, Cole’s three accomplices were also arrested by law enforcement, and all three have already been convicted and sentenced to actual imprisonment (one of them, 25-year-old Cameron Shay, was sentenced last August to three years in federal prison).
The incriminating photos of Kol (on the right), from a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp (Photo: Federal Prosecutor’s Office)
A year later, law enforcement agencies made use of the Red Flag Act that allows for the confiscation of weapons from dangerous people.
On October 8, 2019, the court upheld the urgent request filed in order for Cole to be recognized as “extremely dangerous which poses a threat to harm to others”. It is worth noting that at the time, Cole had not yet been charged with committing any crime.
As mentioned, this is a so-called “red flag law” that exists in several countries, and its purpose is to prevent mass shooting incidents by negating the constitutional right to possess weapons, albeit only temporarily.
Usually, this type of request is made by a relative or concerned friend, but court documents show that the Seattle police submitted the request in September 2019. “
A search of Cole’s home turned up a number of weapons, including an AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle and several handguns. But what worried the police most of all was the permit he was given to carry a weapon covertly. All guns and rifles were confiscated, and the permit revoked.
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