Justice Department: “A federal jury today convicted a Michigan man for conspiring with others and defacing Temple Jacob, a Jewish synagogue in Hancock with swastikas and symbols associated with The Base, a multi-state, white supremacist group. Nathan Weeden, 23, of Houghton, was convicted of one count of conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate any person in the exercise of their rights and one count of intentionally defacing, damaging or destroying religious property because of the race or ethnic characteristics of individuals associated with that property.

“Weeden’s co-conspirators, Richard Tobin, of New Jersey, and Yousef Barasneh, of Wisconsin, both previously pleaded guilty to federal crimes related to the incident. Barasneh testified in the trial against Weeden. In September 2019, Weeden, Tobin and Barasneh, all members of The Base, used an encrypted messaging platform to discuss vandalizing property associated with African Americans and Jewish Americans. Weeden and his co-conspirators dubbed their plan, ‘Operation Kristallnacht,’ which in German means ‘Night of Broken Glass.’ This term referenced events that took place on Nov 9 and 10, 1938, in which Nazis murdered Jews and burned and destroyed their homes, synagogues, schools and places of business. Weeden carried out this plan on Sept 21, 2019, when he spray-painted swastikas and symbols associated with The Base on the outside walls of Temple Jacob.”