Man sentenced in hate group plot threatening Blacks, Jews

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CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man is going to prison for his role in conspiring with a hate group to threaten and intimidate properties owned by Black people and Jews throughout the country.

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Richard Tobin, 20, to one year and one day in prison. Tobin had pleaded guilty to conspiring against rights stemming from vandalized synagogues in Racine, Wisconsin, and Hancock, Michigan.

Tobin admitted he was a member of a white supremacist group and had directed members to destroy and vandalize properties affiliated with Black people and Jews, prosecutors said. They said Tobin labeled the coordinated attack “Operation Kristallnacht” after the 1938 Nazi attack against Jews in Germany.

The synagogues in Racine and Hancock were spray painted with hate symbols in September 2019.

Authorities said Tobin implored members to post flyers, break windows and slash tires belonging to Blacks and Jews.

“The defendant conspired with a white supremacist hate group to vandalize and destroy property owned by Jewish and Black Americans, intending to instill fear into those communities across the country,” assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke said in a statement.

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