SEATTLE — Kaleb Cole, a neo-Nazi leader from Arlington found guilty in a plot to target journalists and members of the Anti-Defamation Leagues, was sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday.
Cole is the leader of a Washington chapter of the Atomwaffen Division, which is a small but extreme hate group. He was convicted on five counts, including conspiracy, three counts of mailing threatening communications and one count of interference with federally protected activities, in September 2021 after a two-day trial.
A jury found him guilty on all five counts after deliberating for just 90 minutes.
“We are here today to affirm that those that commit hate crimes against anyone in our community will be held accountable, to affirm those who spread hate, those that intimidate and those that try to strik terror will be investigated, will be prosecuted and will be sent prison,” said U.S. Attorney Nicholas Brown following the sentencing hearing.
Cole and three others delivered threatening posters to residents in western Washington, including Jewish Washingtonians and those who were working to expose anti-Semitism, including KNG 5 Investigator Chris Ingalls.
Ingalls received one of the posters after reporting on the Atomwaffen Division in 2019.
Assistant Chief of the Seattle Police Department Deanna Nollette said Tuesday, "The activities that were engaged upon were domestic terrorism, and they were designed to spread fear and hate in this community. The partnership between the Seattle Police Department, our federal partners and our federal prosecutors has actually led to someone being held accountable for those acts."
Another couple targeted by Cole and his fellow hate group members, Miri Cypers and her husband Dave Rosenbaum, spoke out after Cole was convicted last year. The couple also received a poster, saying, “We’re grateful that the justice system in this case worked.”
Both Cypers and Rosenbaum were witnesses in Cole’s trial.
"In this type of darkness, the light that was shed by people willing to come forward, it's been empowering, has been inspiring to me and my family, and we are so appreciative," said Rosenbaum at Tuesday's sentencing.
Rosenbaum said his grandfather fought the Nazis during World War II, and his grandmother was at Auschwitz. "I just want to say thank you to all the law enforcement agencies involved for doing this good work to show our society and our community that hate has no place here. And we will continue to fight against it," he said.
The other Atomwaffen men in the conspiracy are 25-year-old Cameron Shea, who was sentenced to three years in prison in August, Johnny Roman Garza of Queen Creek, Arizona, who was sentenced to 16 months in prison, and Spring Hill, Florida resident Taylor Parker-Dipeppe.
Dipeppe, whose father and stepfather severely abused him, attempted to deliver one of the fliers but left it at the wrong address and received no prison time.