Edmonds journalist among those targeted in hate flyer intimidation campaign; FBI arrests four extremists

Four violent extremists associated with Atomwaffen (atomic weapon) Division, a neo-Nazi group operating in several states and internationally, were arrested and charged Wednesday in U.S District Court in Seattle with conspiracy to threaten and intimidate journalists and activists. The targets included individuals in Seattle, Mercer Island and Edmonds, among them TV journalist and Edmonds resident Chris Ingalls, who had reported on Atomwaffen, and two individuals associated with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

“About a month ago I was contacted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, who asked me to come to their office because they had ‘something important’ to tell me,” Ingalls said Wednesday after the arrests were announced. “When I got there, I met with two FBI domestic terrorism investigators who told me that they have information that members of Atomwaffen may be coming to my house in response to my coverage of the group, and they think it will happen over the upcoming weekend.

The information “really got my attention,” Ingalls said, adding that he and his family decided it would be best “to get out of the house and stay in a hotel for a few days.”

The FBI and police deployed surveillance teams to Ingall’s home and neighborhood, but Atomwaffen members failed to show.

“The agents told me that just because they were a no-show that weekend, it doesn’t mean it’s over and that I might get something in the mail,” Ingalls said. “And sure enough, a few days later I received a suspicious-looking package with a typed label held on with packing tape.”

Not wanting to risk opening it himself, Ingalls took the package to the FBI, which opened it and found the threatening hate flyer, similar to the flyers received by other targeted individuals.

These threats and intimidation prompted intensified surveillance of the group, and led to Wednesday’s arrests.

The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington said the arrests and searches by the FBI and local law enforcement were coordinated by the Department of Justice’s National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Seattle, Tampa, Houston, and Phoenix.

The defendants charged in the conspiracy include:

• Cameron Brandon Shea, 24, of Redmond, Wash.
• Kaleb Cole, 24, of Montgomery, Texas
• Taylor Ashley Parker-Dipeppe, 20, of Spring Hill, Fla.
• Johnny Roman Garza, 20, of Queen Creek, Ariz.

According to the criminal complaint, the defendants conspired via an encrypted online chat group to identify journalists and others they wanted to intimidate.  The group focused primarily on those who are Jewish or journalists of color. Defendants Kaleb Cole and Cameron Shea created a series of posters, which included Nazi symbols, masked figures with guns and Molotov cocktails, and threatening language.  The posters were delivered to Atomwaffen members electronically, and the co-conspirators printed and delivered or mailed the posters to journalists and others the group was targeting.

Shea appeared in court Wednesday to answer the criminal complaint.  Judge Mary Alice Theiler remanded him to custody at the federal facility in SeaTac, citing the “risk of non-appearance,” and “potential danger to other persons or the community.” He will have a preliminary hearing in early March. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the other defendants are currently enroute to Washington state to face charges.

“These defendants sought to spread fear and terror with threats delivered to the doorstep of those who are critical of their activities,” said Brian T. Moran, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington.  “As Attorney General William Barr has made clear, rooting out anti-Semitic hate and threats of violence and vigorously prosecuting those responsible are top priorities for the Department of Justice.”

But as a news reporter, for Ingalls it marks a new level of threat.

“I’ve been a reporter for 30 years, and it’s not the first time I’ve received threats,” he explained. “But it is the first time the FBI has reached out first to warn me. I’ve covered Atomwaffen for six months, they’re training in the Washington wilderness with firearms and have meetings all over the country.  I consider them armed and dangerous and am treating them as such.”

— By Larry Vogel