White supremacist threatened to blow up Memphis federal building, prosecutors say
A self-described white supremacist inmate in Arkansas pleaded guilty on Monday to threatening to bomb the Memphis federal building last year and cited the Tennessee city’s demographics, federal prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee said confessed bomb plotter Patrick Hayden, a 32-year-old prisoner convicted of theft, claims to be a part of the White Aryan Resistance, which the Anti-Defamation League describes as an active white supremacist Arkansas prison gang that uses Nazi symbols such as swastikas in tattoos that show members’ rank.
Hayden faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine at his sentencing on Nov. 8, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He’s accused of sending the bomb threats by mail to U.S. District Court judges and other federal officials in Memphis, a city that is 64 percent black and 26 percent non-Hispanic white, according to U.S. Census data.
The mailed bomb and violence threats that launched the investigation were postmarked March 2, 2018, from inmate Arron Lewis of Marianna, Arkansas, federal prosecutors said.
The United States Clerk’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee received the threats four days later in the form of an envelope containing “several letters from four Arkansas state inmates and a note stating ‘federal employees there is a bomb in the building! 901 confederates #savethestatues,’” prosecutors said in a news release.
Prosecutors said the letters, addressed to judges and “federal stooges in black skirts,” included threats to kill or injure victims and families. In one letter, Hayden called for a “total Aryan resurgent’s (sic),” according to federal prosecutors.
Arkansas Department of Corrections officials at the East Arkansas Regional Unit verified that Hayden, Lewis and other inmates were serving sentences there, prosecutors said.
During a prison interview in April 2018, Hayden admitted to agents that he was involved in making the threats and said that “I will do this” once released from prison, prosecutors said. Hayden also told federal agents that “I am a willingly expendable pawn” and that “Memphis is the place I choose, so I am now dedicated…,” saying the inmates targeted Memphis because of the city’s demographics.
“Hayden believes he is capable of carrying out such a plot and made statements regarding idolizing Timothy McVeigh since an early age,” prosecutors said. “During the interview, Hayden also demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of bomb making materials and using cell phones as remote detonators.”
Hayden’s fingerprints and handwriting matched those on the letters, prosecutors said.
“We reject and denounce all forms of radical violent extremism, including white supremacy and any other threats posed by racism, bigotry, and hatred,” U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said in a statement. “We are pleased that the defendant has been held accountable for this disturbing threat of violence fueled by racial hatred.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2019 at 4:27 PM with the headline "White supremacist threatened to blow up Memphis federal building, prosecutors say."
