COURT DOC: First Of Four Members Of ‘Atomwaffen’ Neo-Nazi Group Sentenced To 16 Months In Prison For Plot To Intimidate Journalists And Advocates

A 21-year-old Arizona man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 16 months in prison for his role in a plot to deliver threatening posters to journalists and advocates, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran. JOHNNY ROMAN GARZA pleaded guilty September 8, 2020, to conspiracy to mail threatening communications, to commit stalking, and to interfere with federally protected activities.

GARZA is one of four men indicted in February 2020 for their plot to deliver threatening posters to journalists and advocates for minority groups.

In his plea agreement, GARZA admitted that he conspired with the other defendants via an encrypted online chat group to identify journalists and advocates to threaten in retaliation for the victims work exposing anti-Semitism. The group focused primarily on journalists and advocates who were Jewish or people of color. In a message to the other co-defendants, GARZA explained that the plot was designed to ‘have them all wake up one morning and find themselves terrorized by targeted propaganda.’ On the night of January 25, 2020, GARZA placed a poster on the bedroom window of a prominent Jewish journalist that depicted a figure in a skull mask holding a Molotov cocktail in front of a burning home. The poster contained the victims name and address and warned, ‘Your actions have consequences. Our patience has its limits . . . You have been visited by your local Nazis.’ (Source: U.S. Department of Justice)