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Neo-Nazi leader sentenced to 7 years for plot to intimidate Jews, journalists

Kaleb Cole, 25, helped organize a campaign to send threatening posters to journalists.
Image: Raymond Duda
Raymond Duda, the FBI's special agent in charge in Seattle, stands next to a poster that was mailed to the home of Chris Ingalls, an investigative reporter for NBC affiliate KING of Seattle, during a news conference in Seattle on Feb. 26, 2020.Ted S. Warren / AP file

A Neo-Nazi leader convicted in a plot to intimidate Jews and journalists has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

The man, Kaleb Cole, 25, the former leader of the Neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, was convicted in September of conspiracy, mailing threatening communications and interfering with a federally protected activity, the Justice Department said in a statement Tuesday.

“The group focused primarily on those who are Jewish or journalists of color,” the Justice Department said.

That plot involved sending posters that read “You have been visited by your local Nazis.” In one case, a poster was glued to the window of the Arizona home of an editor for a Jewish publication.

"Today the community and those Mr. Cole and his co-conspirators targeted stand up to say, 'hate has no place here,'" U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said.

A co-conspirator in the plot, Cameron Shea, 25, another Atomwaffen Division leader, was sentenced to three years in August, the Justice Department said.

Two other people were also sentenced in the plot after they pleaded guilty and have since renounced their Neo-Nazi views, officials said.

The four were arrested after they were charged in connection with a "swatting" scheme in 2020.