Ex-Leader Of Neo-Nazi Group Facing Federal Charges For Swatting Journalists

A former leader in a Neo-Nazi group linked to multiple killings and other crimes is facing federal charges for allegedly swatting journalists and calling in phony bomb threats across the country. Prosecutors said that John C. Denton, 26, of Montgomery, Texas, was a founding member of the group Atomwaffen Division, which had the goal of starting a race war in the United States.

Denton and his followers are accused of making hundreds of bomb threats and swatting calls to targets across the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom in 2018 and 2019. Their targets included a predominantly African American church in Virginia, journalists, and a high-ranking government official.

Officials said that Denton became upset after a ProPublica article outed him as a leader in the group. He retaliated by targeting both the news organization and the journalist who wrote the story.

Denton told an undercover FBI agent that he called the police in Richmond, California, pretending to be the journalist. Using a modulator to alter his voice, he told the 911 dispatcher that he had killed his wife and would shoot any officers who came to his house. A SWAT team was dispatched to the journalist's home, but the tense situation ended peacefully after deputies determined the call was a hoax.

Denton is charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, interstate threats to injure. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.

Photo: Getty Images


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