United States v. Shea et al. (2020)

United States v. Shea et al., Case No. 2:20-cr-00032 (W.D. Wash.), is the federal criminal case in which five members of Atomwaffen Division were charged with conspiring to threaten and intimidate journalists, Jewish community members, and activists through a coordinated poster campaign in January 2020. The case became the primary vehicle through which Joshua Caleb Sutter's 18-year paid FBI informant relationship was publicly revealed, through a motion to suppress filed by defendant Kaleb Cole on August 13, 2021.

Case History

Five AWD members were arrested on February 26, 2020, in a coordinated operation by FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces spanning four states. The defendants were:

• Kaleb Cole, 24, of Montgomery, Texas (formerly Arlington, Washington)
• Cameron Brandon Shea, 24, of Redmond, Washington
• Taylor Ashley Parker-Dipeppe, 20, of Spring Hill, Florida
• Johnny Roman Garza, 20, of Queen Creek, Arizona
• A fifth defendant from the Dallas, Texas area

The charges centered on a January 2020 campaign in which AWD members delivered and mailed threatening posters to residences and businesses in western Washington, primarily targeting Jewish Washingtonians and journalists covering antisemitism. Posters bore swastikas, skulls, and language including "We know where you live" and "Death to Pigs."

Guilty Pleas by Co-Defendants

All defendants except Cole pleaded guilty before trial. Cameron Shea pleaded guilty to federal hate crime and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 36 months in May 2021 by the E.D. Va. in a separately entered plea.¹ John Cameron Denton, the AWD leader charged in a related case (United States v. Denton, 1:20-cr-00154, E.D. Va.), pleaded guilty in July 2020 to conspiracy and interstate threats and was sentenced to 41 months in May 2021.²

The Suppression Motion and Informant Revelation

Cole proceeded to trial. His defense filed a motion to suppress evidence on August 13, 2021, arguing that the search warrant affidavit used to search Cole's home was defective under the doctrine of Franks v. Delaware (1978) because it failed to disclose material information about the confidential informant who provided the basis for the warrant.

The motion described the CI as: "a convicted felon and currently owns and operates a publishing company that distributes white supremacist writings." It further stated that the CI "has been paid $78,133.20 plus an expense advance of $4,378.60 since February 7, 2018," and that this period "almost entirely coincides with his work on the investigation into Mr. Cole."³ The motion did not name Sutter, but the details were sufficient for identification.

Investigative journalist Ali Winston identified Sutter from the motion and published his identification on August 13, 2021, the same day the motion was filed.⁴

Government Response

The DOJ's response to the suppression motion acknowledged a disclosure failure but argued it was legally harmless: "Although the defense is correct that certain potential impeachment information about the informant was not included in the affidavit, that omission is hardly fatal."³ The government did not assert that the CI's publishing activities were authorized, and did not address the substance of those activities.

Coughenour's Ruling

Judge John C. Coughenour denied the motion to suppress and for a Franks hearing in an order dated August 30, 2021. His ruling stated: "The FBI's longstanding relationship with the informant and the compensation it paid to him, approximately $140,000 over a sixteen-year period, does not impugn his credibility." The ruling found the warrant sufficient despite the affidavit's omission of the CI's criminal history and paid status.⁵

Trial, Conviction, and Sentence

Sutter was called as a witness at Cole's trial in September 2021. He testified that the FBI Columbia Field Office handler Special Agent Bill Moser directed him to join AWD in a "deep-cover capacity" and that he was "instructed to continue the relationships that I had in the right wing."⁶

Cole was convicted on September 29, 2021, on five counts: one count of interfering with a federally protected activity because of religion, three counts of mailing threatening communications, and one count of conspiracy. He was sentenced to 84 months (seven years) by Judge Coughenour on January 11, 2022.⁷

Ninth Circuit Appeal

Cole appealed his conviction. The appeal is docketed as No. 22-30015 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.⁸