A Tennessee man already indicted on a neo-Nazi-linked firebombing charge was hit on Thursday with an additional count of providing support for Hezbollah.
Regan Darby Prater, 27, was indicted by a grand jury last year on charges of firebombing the Highlander Center, a nonprofit research and education center in New Market, Tenn., which, in part, trains civil-rights activists.
Prater pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say that he spray-painted the Iron Guard, a symbol of a World War II-era Romanian Nazi organization, in the building’s parking lot, and was inspired by the 2019 mosque shootings by an Australian man in Christchurch, New Zealand, which left 51 people dead and wounded 40 others.
An FBI agent says in court documents that Prater participated extensively in neo-Nazi online group chats.
On Thursday, prosecutors added a second count of attempted provision of material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. The filing alleges that in late October 2019, Prater knowingly attempted to provide “a list of personally identifiable information for individuals purportedly affiliated with the government of Israel, to a foreign terrorist organization.”
That organization is identified as Hezbollah in the filing. (JNS reached out to the U.S. Department of Justice for comment.)
Prater’s case is set to go to trial on Apr. 14, after his legal team requested a delay.
