White Supremacist Sentenced for Threatening Journalist

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The leader of a white supremacist group who admitted posting an online death threat targeting a Brooklyn journalist in a bid to silence coverage of the group was sentenced to around three and a half years in prison on Friday, federal prosecutors said.

Sentencing Details

The white supremacist, Nicholas Welker, was sentenced to 44 months in federal prison after pleading guilty in September to conspiring to make interstate threats, prosecutors said.

Details of the Threat

At the time of the threat, which he posted in an online public forum in August 2021, he was the leader of Feuerkrieg Division, a neo-Nazi hate group, prosecutors said. Mr. Welker, 33, of San Jose, Calif., issued the threat by posting a photograph of the journalist, whom prosecutors did not identify, with an image of a gun aimed at the person’s head and the words “race traitor” plastered over the person’s eyes, prosecutors said.

Consequences of the Threat

The post included the name of the journalist and the person’s employer as well as the phrase “Responsible for stalking our boys for information,” according to a criminal complaint. Mr. Welker’s goal was to “silence” the journalist so that Mr. Welker’s “fellow extremists could continue to commit violence against racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community,” prosecutors said.

Group Background

Feuerkreig Division, which translates to “War Fire,” is an international extremist group that encourages its members to attack racial minorities, Jews, L.G.B.T. people, the U.S. government, journalists, and “critical infrastructure,” prosecutors said. Feuerkreig Division is an offshoot of Atomwaffen, which law enforcement authorities consider among the most violent extremist groups in the country.

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