CLEVELAND, Ohio — Aimenn Penny sat watching online videos of drag-queen story hour events in France, half a world away from his Alliance home, when he decided to attack, authorities say.
Penny, a member of White Lives Matter Ohio, made Molotov cocktails, drove some 50 miles to a small Geauga County town and hurled them at a church planning to host drag events the following week. His only regret: that the church didn’t burn to the ground, according to court records.
Penny’s arrest and indictment on federal hate crime charges, as well as a recent report from the Anti-Defamation League that showed a spike in white supremacist activity in Ohio, is emblematic of the growing problem of domestic hate groups, said Jonathan Lewis, a researcher at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.
“It paints a really disturbing picture of the state of domestic terrorism and domestic violent extremism in this country,” Lewis said. “I think that the case that was recently brought in in Ohio is, unfortunately, a really good indicator of the types of violent extremism bubbling to the surface today.”
Groups becoming ‘decentralized’
Penny’s case in many ways mirrors the broader white supremacist movement and how some become radicalized via social media and ultimately carry out real-world attacks, Lewis said.
Most white supremacists are no longer affiliated with organized groups, like the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers, he said. The new trend is groups that are very loosely affiliated. There’s no set hierarchy in the groups or membership dues. Meetings aren’t in person, but on apps like Discord, 4Chan and Telegram, among others, he said.
The rhetoric is hate-filled, but there’s no single person who issues orders or makes plans, Lewis said. Those who carry out violence often do so alone or in small groups, making it more difficult to detect or predict.
“The chatrooms stop just short of saying, ‘Hey go commit a hate crime tomorrow,’ ” Lewis said. “It’s basically do-it-yourself terrorism.”
Members are typically younger, like the 20-year-old Penny. They get radicalized online and through public officials and politicians at the local, state and federal levels who use similar rhetoric, Lewis said.
The result is people with different causes often blending. People with anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies team up with anti-Semites, racists with anti-LGBTQ and so on, Lewis said.
“It creates a really complex environment, particularly for law enforcement,” Lewis said. “It’s tougher to infiltrate a group because it’s all decentralized.”
White Lives Matter increases presence in Ohio
White Lives Matter of Ohio fits that mold, Lewis said. The group launched in April 2021. It is loosely affiliated with a nationwide group and uses Telegram to spread propaganda and disrupt drag shows like the one the Community Church of Chesterland organized.
Many members, like Penny, distribute fliers on their own.
The Anti-Defamation League report said there were 85 incidents of reported white supremacist propaganda efforts in Ohio in 2021 and 128 last year. Most of the efforts include dropping fliers at various locations, and the dominant group in Ohio in the last two years has been the Patriot Front.
White Lives Matter Ohio increased its presence in the state last year, doling out fliers at a rapid rate in Euclid, Cleveland, Akron, Mentor, Eastlake, Vermilion and Lodi, among other places across the state, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The fliers for White Lives Matter say: “Our children pay the price for our inaction. Stand up white man.” They include a QR code that links the group’s Telegram account.
Ohio’s chapter held the third most events in the country, typically small monthly demonstrations of about five to 15 people along busy roads, overpasses, parks or outside government buildings, the report said.
Anti-Defamation League of Cleveland Director Kelly Fishman said there has also been an increase in incidents on college campuses and at grade schools.
“White Lives Matter had the most incidents in Ohio,” Fishman said. “We’re seeing crossover with certain groups and more participation in the groups.”
‘Horrific increase’ in online hate speech
Penny in recent months had been on the radar of several hate-group trackers, including the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation.
The organization’s spokeswoman, Bonnie Deutsche Burdman, said the federation tracks people who espouse hate online and works with law enforcement if online chatter turns to direct threats.
“We are seeing a horrific increase in online chatter and threats and spewing of hatred,” Deutsche Burdman said. “It’s happening nationally, but it’s certainly happening here in Ohio.”
At 15, Penny espoused homophobic views on Twitter. He created a barebones website in which he calls himself the “preacher” of Church 777. His Telegram account includes the bio “one angry white man,” and he posted about being pro segregation.
On Oct. 11, Alliance police spotted him placing White Lives Matter fliers on cars, including police cruisers. He carried a large hunting knife and an expandable baton and told police he owned a gun.
Penny told officers that he was there to spread the “word” that Black Americans were the “problem.” He said he wanted to educate people about Black people committing violence on white people and blamed Black people solely for committing violence in the country, according to court records.
Penny said he looked forward to a race war in America and that the United States would not prosper unless all other races — which he called “weaknesses” — were eliminated. As he left, officers noted his car was filled with White Lives Matter fliers.
On March 4, he and a group of about five other White Lives Matter members, including a Neo-Nazi who was on federal probation, hung up fliers in Wadsworth ahead of a drag queen story event. Penny yelled at officers, who noted that he had arrived there with his father.
A week later, hundreds of Neo-Nazis and other white supremacists showed up at the drag event at Memorial Park. Penny joined in, wearing military-style gear, a tactical vest and a jacket with a patch showing a firearm, according to an FBI affidavit.
The group shouted, “Heil Hitler,” carried guns and swastika flags and hurled racial and homophobic slurs.
Fights broke out, someone shot pepper spray and police arrested two people. Video of the event went viral and stoked fears that a similar, or worse, incident could happen at events planned for April 1 at Christ Community Church of Chesterland and the Chardon restaurant Element 41.
Members of the Patriot Front, White Lives Matter and others planned to be there, some armed, according to the FBI. The church received hate mail, messages and threats of violence.
Penny later told FBI agents that he became convinced he needed to act to “protect children” and stop the drag event. He watched the videos of drag shows in France and became “more and more angry,” according to the FBI affidavit.
On March 25, a week before the events in Chesterland, he assembled the Molotov cocktails using bottles of Denaka vodka and Corona beer that he had in his bedroom, according to the affidavit. Penny then made the hourlong drive to Chesterland and hurled them at the church, the FBI said. The devices left scorch marks on one sign and on a door to the church.
The FBI arrested him a day before the events. Investigators searched his room and found a gas mask, gas cans, Nazi memorabilia, a handwritten manifesto describing his white supremacist ideas and a White Lives Matter shirt.
The next day, only a handful of demonstrators, mostly Patriot Front members, showed up. One protester lingered for a second, afternoon event.
An indictment, unsealed April 20 in federal court in Cleveland, accuses him of obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs, a hate crime that carries a 20-year maximum sentence if he is convicted. He also is charged with arson.
“If there’s one thing that gives optimism, it’s that you have seen federal law enforcement really effectively disrupt the prominent pieces of this puzzle,” Lewis said. “Obviously you’re not going to have a 100 percent batting average, but more often than not they will get the bad guys off the playing field.”
Adam Ferrise covers federal courts at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. You can find his work here.
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