Redmond Man Pleads Guilty To Hate Crime, Conspiracy Charges

SEATTLE — A prominent member of the neo-Nazi group "Atomwaffen Division" pled guilty to conspiracy and hate crime charges in federal court Wednesday, more than a year after his arrest for organizing and delivering threatening messages to journalists and community advocates.

Cameron Shea, 25, of Redmond, is one of four people linked to the group and arrested by a federal task force in February 2020. Court documents said the group used encrypted chat apps to identify journalists and advocates, who were primarily Jewish or people of color, and created several posters with Nazi imagery and threatening text.

In Washington, targets included three residents in Seattle, Edmonds and Mercer Island. One of the recipients was KING 5 investigative reporter Chris Ingalls, who produced several pieces on the Atomwaffen Division the year before. Ingalls visited the Arlington home of one of the defendants, Kaleb Cole, in October 2019 after law enforcement seized several guns from his home.

The U.S. Attorney's Office writes:

“The group created posters, which featured Nazi symbols, masked figures with guns and Molotov cocktails, and threatening messages, to deliver or mail to the journalists or advocates the group targeted. Shea messaged the group that he wanted Atomwaffen members in different locations to place posters on their victims’ homes on the same night to catch journalists off guard and accomplish a 'show of force.' The posters were delivered to victims in Tampa, Seattle, and Phoenix. Shea mailed posters to several victims, including a poster sent to an official at the Anti-Defamation League that depicted a Grim Reaper-like figure wearing a skeleton mask holding a Molotov cocktail outside a residence, with the text 'Our Patience Has Its Limits . . . You have been visited by your local Nazis.'”

According to federal prosecutors, Shea coordinated the group's effort across state lines to place the posters at victims' homes on the same night as a "show of force." Mailers were also sent to other victims across the country, including one received by an official at the Anti-Defamation League.

A federal judge in Seattle set Shea's sentencing for June 28, and he faces a combined maximum of 15 years in prison. Two other defendants in the case, Ashley Parker-Dipeppe and Johnny Roman Garza previously pled guilty to conspiracy charges. Kaleb Cole pled not guilty and his trial is scheduled to begin in September.