Neo-Nazi Kaleb Cole Gets 7 Years in Prison for Threatening Journalists, Jewish Activists

Convicted Neo-Nazi Kaleb Cole was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in federal prison for helping lead a campaign to threaten journalists and Jewish activists in early 2020.

Cole, 26, was convicted in September for five felony counts relating to the delivery of Swastika-laden posters to journalists and employees of the Anti-Defamation League in Arizona, Florida and Washington state.

The posters were delivered in early 2020 and warned, "You have been visited by your local Nazis," "Your Actions have Consequences" and "We are Watching."

The posters also featured images such as a hooded figure preparing to throw a Molotov cocktail at a house, and the message "Death to Pigs," which is the same message Charles Manson followers scrawled in victims' blood during a home invasion murder in 1969.

After hearing from victims who spoke of lingering fear and installing expensive home security systems in response to the threats Cole sent, Seattle U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour handed down the sentence.

Miri Cypers, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, described picking up toys from her yard and fleeing to a hotel so Cole and his followers would not know she had a daughter.

Coughenour also noted when Cole tried to operate under the anonymity of the Internet and journalists attempted to expose him, "he took great pains to silence them through threats and intimidation." Of these journalists, Seattle's KING-TV Chris Ingalls was a victim of receiving threats from Cole.

"To function as a democratic society, we need reliable and truthful journalism," Coughenour said.

U.S. Attorney Nick Brown credited the victims for facing Cole in court, saying, "Their courage has resulted in the federal prison sentence imposed today."

Cole was one of the leaders of a hate group called Atomwaffen Division. He became a leader after another leader was arrested on explosives charges.

Cole is among four others who face charges, including another leader, Cameron Shea. Cole's sentence is the harshest, however, almost twice as long as that of Shea, due to Cole showing no remorse.

"I cannot put into words the guilt that I feel about this fear and pain I caused," Shea said to the court at his sentencing.

The other charges include conspiracy, mailing threatening communications and interfering with a federally protected activity.

Law enforcement had kept an eye on Cole since at least 2018, when he was stopped at U.S. Customs after returning from a trip to Europe. Upon a search of his cellphone, they found him posing at various sites, including the gates of Auschwitz, or displaying a white supremacist flag and performing the Nazi salute.

In 2019, Seattle police said Cole had "gone from espousing hate to now taking active steps or preparation for an impending 'race war.'" They obtained an "extreme risk protection order" against him and seized nine guns from his home.

The steps Seattle police alluded to included organizing paramilitary-style "hate camps" in Nevada and Washington, investigators said.

After the guns were seized, Cole moved from Seattle to Montgomery, Texas where he was found in a speeding car with another Atomwaffen member, as well as marijuana and four guns, three of which were assault rifles.

Cole's grandmother, JoAnne Powell, pleaded with the judge for leniency Tuesday, insisting that her grandson was a good man who made some "poor decisions" and never meant to hurt anyone.

"I beg that you would not look at him with hatred for what his political views have been," she said. "Kaleb is not a violent or mean person."

Cole's attorney, Christopher Black, insisted that he was not really a leader of the conspiracy, and that the threat campaign was Shea's idea. He acknowledged that Cole made the posters and offered suggestions in carrying out the effort, but said others charged had done similar work.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Woods disagreed, saying Cole stood out from the other defendants for his lack of remorse. He decried racism and religious intolerance said it's "the great tragedy of this country, 250 years in, so many Americans have that feeling of unease."

"That was his identity, his life's work to this point: hate, targeting people to instill terror," Woods said. "And it worked."

The other two defendants were Johnny Roman Garza, of Queen Creek, Arizona, who was sentenced to 16 months for affixing one of the posters on the bedroom window of a Jewish journalist, and Taylor Parker-Dipeppe, of Spring Hill, Florida, who received no prison time for attempting to deliver a flier but leaving it at the wrong address. Parker-Dipeppe was severely abused by his father and stepfather and hid his transgender identity from his co-conspirators and the judge found that he had suffered enough.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.