MARQUETTE — The former Michigan Technological University student who spray painted anti-Semitic symbols on Temple Jacob in Hanco*ck as part of a coordinated campaign by a white supremacist group was sentenced to 26 months in prison in U.S. District Court in Marquette Tuesday.
Nathan Weeden, 23, of Houghton was found guilty of conspiracy against rights and damage to religious property after a four-day trial in January. He spray painted swastikas and other anti-Semitic symbols on the synagogue in September 2019.
Weeden had been part of The Base, a decentralized white supremacist group Weeden had first chatted with online before eventually meeting members in person for training sessions.
The group sought to deface Jewish- and minority-owned businesses and places of worship in what they called Operation Kristallnacht, after a Nazi campaign of murders and damage committed against Jewish people in November 1938.
Weeden received 26 months on the felony conspiracy charge, and a concurrent one-year sentence for the misdemeanor charge of damaging religious property. The sentence fell within the guideline range of 20 to 30 months. He must also undergo supervision for three years and pay a $1,500 fine.
“I think today’s sentence is solid,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten said in an interview after the sentencing. “I think it sends a strong message that hate is not going to be tolerated in the Upper Peninsula, in Michigan and beyond. I was really proud of the fact that a cross section of U.P. residents unanimously and fairly swiftly determined the evidence showed beyond a reasonable doubt that Nathan Weeden committed these hate crimes … today was an important event, and this is an important case.”
Two co-conspirators in The Base operation have already been sentenced. Richard Tobin, a New Jersey resident who directed the vandalism, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison in 2021. Former Base member Yousef Barasneh received two months’ probation in March for defacing a synagogue in Racine, Wisconsin.
Barasneh was a key witness in Weeden’s trial. He testified about meeting Weeden when members of The Base’s Midwest cell held firearms training at a Wisconsin firing range.
During the trial, prosecutors showed excerpts from online chats including Weeden, Tobin, Barasneh and other Base members in the weeks leading up to Operation Kristallnacht and in its immediate aftermath, and also played audio of a conversation between Weeden and members of The Base when he was looking to join.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Weeden said he had been a misguided teenager in 2019 who made a “terrible lapse in judgment in the company that I kept.” He said he had tried to surround himself with better people since. He asked for a noncustodial sentence so he could accompany his wife, who was accepted to a Ph.D. program across the country.
“To the people of Temple Jacob, I seek your pardon and hope to make amends,” he said. “If I hadn’t made such stupid and wrong decisions, it would have saved a lot of people a lot of anguish … I can’t change the past, but I can strive to improve the future.”
As part of his sentence, Weeden must also pay $1,466.17 in restitution to Temple Jacob. Temple Vice President David Holden, who was president at the time of the incident, spoke at Tuesday’s hearing.
Coming a little more than a year after the deadly Tree of Life synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh, Weeden’s act has hardened Temple Jacob, according to Holden. The synagogue has tightened security, installing armed guards during High Holy Days celebrations and sending members through a secure alternate entrance.
Holden recalled having to explain what tourniquets are to a 7-year-old boy who saw a box of them being brought into the synagogue.
“Will we ever again feel comfortable being there?” he said. “I respectfully submit no.”
Temple Jacob received a $10,000 donation in February. In the past, it might have gone toward fixing the ceiling, renovating the library or creating a children’s space. Instead, Temple Jacob is working with the Anti-Defamation League on setting up an anti-hate curriculum, and working with MTU to combat the spread of hate messaging.
While the sentence fell within the guideline range of 20 to 30 months, both sides argued for a departure, on opposite ends. The defense sought to reduce the time of imprisonment to the amount of time Weeden had already served since he was taken into custody in January. Heath Lynch, Weeden’s attorney, said what Weeden did in 2019 doesn’t reflect who he is today as a married, gainfully employed man.
“Nathan truly has been on a redemptive journey since this started,” he said.
He also questioned why the government case against Weeden had taken so long, compared to his co-conspirators.
“If the government actually believed Nathan was so unstable, presented such a threat to society, then it has failed us,” he said.
The government asked the sentence be increased to three years. U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler, lead prosecutor on the case, said. He added that the process had taken so long because unlike the other two defendants, Weeden had “played a cat-and-mouse game” with federal investigators.
He also cast doubt on Weeden’s claims of rehabilitating himself. He noted that Weeden had already embraced religion before his actions; in one photo introduced into evidence, the Bible sat next to neo-Nazi texts required for new members of The Base.
He had also asked someone to inscribe some of his weaponry with two symbols: One a series of runes used by The Base, and another for Christ.
“These two ideas live together not only in his heart, but in his violent ideas for a race war,” Kessler said.
Kessler also argued Weeden’s views had only changed on paper, pointing to a social media post made two weeks after his initial arrest in 2023 where he shared a meme making fun of Hispanics’ work ethic.
Kessler said Weeden’s engineering savvy and knowledge of guns also made him a potential threat. He entered into evidence schematics for manufacturing guns, and evidence he had illegally manufactured an automatic weapon.
Judge Robert Jonker opted to stay within the guideline range. Addressing the books spotted on Weeden’s shelf, Jonker said the court’s role was to penalize conduct, not views. He also said evidence of past bad behavior did not necessarily indicate he would commit similar acts in the future. He drew a comparison to the “precogs” from the Tom Cruise film “Minority Report.”
“We are not in an era of future crime … one of the operating principles of our civic state is that people can change,” he said.
However, he said, Weeden had committed a serious act that had deeply affected the community.
“It’s more than a lapse in judgment,” Jonker said. “This is an individual who, though young, was deeply rooted in a hatred that is in many respects, the archetype of what we think of as horrible hate crimes.”
After Thursday’s sentencing, Holden thanked the U.S. Attorney’s office and federal and local law enforcement.
“I think the judge explained clearly the sentencing … I’m gratified the justice system has worked in the way that it has,” he said.
Holden said he also appreciated Weeden’s apology to Temple Jacob.
“I’ll pray for his well-being and the well-being of his family,” he said.
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