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New Jersey Man Admits Conspiring with White Supremacists to Vandalize Synagogues Across the Country
justice.gov ^ | February 26, 2021 | Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs

Posted on 02/26/2021 3:04:35 PM PST by ransomnote

A New Jersey man pleaded guilty today to his role in conspiring with members of a white supremacist hate group to threaten and intimidate African Americans and Jewish Americans by vandalizing minority-owned properties throughout the country in September 2019.

Richard Tobin, 19, of Brooklawn, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with conspiracy against rights. U.S. District Court Judge Robert B. Kugler scheduled sentencing for June 28, 2021.

“Conspiring with others to vandalize and destroy property owned by African-Americans and Jewish Americans will not be tolerated by the Department of Justice,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pam Karlan of the Civil Rights Division. “Every person should feel secure knowing they have the right to own and use their property free from being targeted because of their race or religion. We will continue to protect the civil rights of all individuals and vigorously prosecute bias motivated crimes.”

“Americans should never have to fear racist, anti-Semitic or any other form of bias-motivated violence,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig for the District of New Jersey. “This defendant encouraged hateful acts of violence against individuals and their houses of worship, based solely on their religion or the color of their skin. Together with our colleagues in the Civil Rights Division and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, this office will continue to work every day to identify individuals like him and bring them swiftly to justice.”

“The FBI and our partners simply won’t tolerate crimes spurred by hate, which are meant to intimidate and isolate the groups targeted,” said Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “People of all races and faiths deserve to feel safe in their communities. Richard Tobin encouraged others to victimize innocent people, in furtherance of his abhorrent white supremacist beliefs. While we all have the right to believe whatever we want, when those views lead to violence, that’s a different and dangerous story.”

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Tobin admitted that from Sept. 15 to Sept. 23, 2019, he was a member of a white supremacist group, “The Base,” and during that time, he communicated online with other members and directed them to destroy and vandalize properties affiliated with African Americans and Jewish Americans. Tobin dubbed this coordinated attack “Kristallnacht,” or “Night of Broken Glass,” after an attack in Germany on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, in which Nazis murdered Jewish people and burned and destroyed Jewish homes, synagogues, stores and schools. Tobin implored members of The Base to post propaganda flyers and to break windows and slash tires belonging to African Americans and Jewish Americans. On Sept. 21, 2019, members of The Base vandalized synagogues in Racine, Wisconsin, and Hancock, Michigan, by spray painting them with hate symbols. 

A conspirator, Yousef Omar Barasneh, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy against rights in federal court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, for his role in vandalizing the synagogue in Racine, Wisconsin.   

The conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greater.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen M. Harberg of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden and Trial Attorney Eric Peffley of the Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section.

Topic(s): 
Civil Rights
Component(s): 
Press Release Number: 
21-185


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS:
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1 posted on 02/26/2021 3:04:35 PM PST by ransomnote
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To: ransomnote

That’s no good. Leave my Jewish brothers and sisters alone.
Their culture has suffered enough already.
We are all Americans and we are all God’s children.


2 posted on 02/26/2021 3:07:30 PM PST by lee martell
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To: ransomnote

two instances of minor vandalism, that’s what the FBI and DoJ are mobilized for, but whole city blocks can be burned to the ground and nothing is done against those domestic terrorists.


3 posted on 02/26/2021 3:07:47 PM PST by euram
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To: ransomnote

Yousef Omar Barasneh

Now there’s a white supremacist name for ya.


4 posted on 02/26/2021 3:10:02 PM PST by LeoTDB69
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To: ransomnote
Really !!?

What about every minority establishment destroyed by govt. sanctioned (including the DOJ) hooligans all summer long in 2020 ? ?

5 posted on 02/26/2021 3:10:26 PM PST by knarf (The Constitution protects the right to peaceably assemble, not to protest)
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To: ransomnote

Maybe he should be called “boy”. The behavior is not manly. Redemption is to whosoever will, man or boy, one color or another. Hallelujah!


6 posted on 02/26/2021 3:10:26 PM PST by KDF48 (Redeemed by Christ.)
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To: ransomnote

The number of attacks by radical leftists and commies against churches and synagogues the past decade is through the roof, yet we never hear about investigations, arrests, or prosecutions, much less those attacks being attributed to commies.


7 posted on 02/26/2021 3:12:24 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (The Weak Never Started, The Cowards fail along the way, Only the Strong Survive)
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To: ransomnote

“People of all races and faiths deserve to feel safe in their communities.”

I guess that I have to, AGAIN, tell people here that Babylon Bee deserves credit when they publish their satirical pieces, as in this story.


8 posted on 02/26/2021 3:13:23 PM PST by BobL
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To: ransomnote

“The Base” is the name of the group? Isn’t that what al-Qaeda translates to in English?????


9 posted on 02/26/2021 3:14:20 PM PST by nhbob1
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To: euram
I'm still waiting on all the indictments of BLM and Antifa for assault, conspiracy to commit mayhem, vandalism, and arson. Real soon now …
10 posted on 02/26/2021 3:14:31 PM PST by Governor Dinwiddie
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To: ransomnote

Aren’t Jewish Americans white?


11 posted on 02/26/2021 3:14:46 PM PST by Veggie Todd (Religion. It's like a History class. Without the facts. )
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To: euram

First things first. Right?

Looks like the guy was 16 or 17 when this took place. Some badass feds.


12 posted on 02/26/2021 3:20:36 PM PST by ecomcon
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To: ransomnote
charging him with conspiracy against rights

Oh, good. Everyone in the gun control cabal could be charged with that.

13 posted on 02/26/2021 3:20:54 PM PST by LibWhacker
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To: ransomnote

So racist he coordinated with one “Yousef Omar Barasneh”, from the Religion Of Pieces.


14 posted on 02/26/2021 3:21:50 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (American gun owners number more than the top 10 armies combined. What's Biden's enforcement plan?)
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To: ransomnote

So, this guy was 17 or 18 years old at the time of the crime?

Most likely, 50% of the people he communicated with on the Web were FBI informants.

Questions...

Was the FBI aware of the planned vandalism/hate speech at the Wisconsin and the Michigan synagogues?

Did the FBI make any attempt to stop the vandalism/hate speech?


15 posted on 02/26/2021 3:23:37 PM PST by zeestephen
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To: ransomnote

there’s a lot of twists and turns in this pretzel of a story...


16 posted on 02/26/2021 3:23:40 PM PST by heavy metal (covid covid covid is the new russia russia russia...)
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To: ransomnote; All

“Conspiring with others to vandalize and destroy property owned by African-Americans and Jewish Americans will not be tolerated by the Department of Justice.”

“However,” he continued, “if you’ve already destroyed minority-owned businesses, or those of Whitey in general this past summer while out protesting President Trump, say in Madison or Kenosha, Wisconsin, maybe Portland, OR or Seattle, WA...then we’ll just look the other way.”

Yep. Whatever, Yer Onner!


17 posted on 02/26/2021 3:24:52 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: ransomnote

Not good but if I read this correctly, he was in a group for exactly 8 days.


18 posted on 02/26/2021 3:27:57 PM PST by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant)
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To: ransomnote

He could have just joined in with the Antifa and BLM rioting and gotten a free pass for destroying minority owned businesses.


19 posted on 02/26/2021 3:28:12 PM PST by lastchance
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To: ransomnote

Maybe I missed the attacks on African Americans in the story. Sure sounds like they had Muslim involvement and defaced synogogues.


20 posted on 02/26/2021 3:30:27 PM PST by Williams (Stop Tolerating The Intolerant)
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