Neo-Nazi pleads guilty to ‘swatting’ Black church, Cabinet official, journalists

The founder of a Neo-Nazi group pleaded guilty on Tuesday to “swatting” a Black church, a Trump cabinet official and journalists, according to the Associated Press.

John Denton, a 26-year-old man from Montgomery, Texas, entered a guilty plea in a Virginia federal court on Tuesday, the AP reported. 

Denton faces up to five years in prison for “swatting,” a form of harassment where one makes false reports of violence or weapons to police in an attempt to draw a response by SWAT teams. The practice has in some instances had deadly consequences on the victims. 

His victims included the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va., then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, where one of the members of the swatting conspiracy attended college. 

Denton also targeted the New York City offices of news outlet ProPublica and the home of a ProPublica reporter in California.

Denton, who prosecutors say was the leader of the Neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, was arrested for the calls in February.

John William Kirby Kelley, an ODU student linked to the conspiracy, is scheduled to enter a plea next week.