NJ neo-nazi sentenced to a year for plot against Blacks and Jews (Opinion)

A New Jersey man involved in a neo-Nazi plot to vandalize synagogues and to intimidate Jewish and African-American people was sentenced yesterday to a year and a day in prison. This is the second time Richard Tobin, 20 of Brookline, New Jersey pleaded guilty; this time to conspiracy against rights before US district judge Robert Kugler in Camden federal court (he had previously been released for unknown reasons).

According to an article on Lakewood News Network, Tobin admitted that throughout Sept. 2019, he was a member of a white supremacist group “The Base,” and communicated with other members online, directing them to destroy and vandalize properties belonging and or affiliated with African Americans and Jews.

Court statements and documents filed in this case say that Tobin called the proposed attack “Kristallnacht,” named after the abhorrent vandalization of Jewish-owned businesses in Germany during World War II. Tobin‘s plan involved posting propaganda flyers, breaking windows, and slashing tires of Black and Jewish people. The judge also sentenced Tobin to three years of supervised release after serving his sentence.

According to an April 2020 article on NJ 101.5.com about Tobin's previous arrest, “The Base” believes in “Accelerationism,” a fringe White Supremacist philosophy that promotes mass violence to fuel society’s eventual collapse. The article also went on to say that Tobin told FBI agents at the time that he was “triggered by the state of the country” and recounted a time when he became enraged at seeing large crowds of Black people at a mall in Edison, New Jersey.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi Franco’s own.