SoylentNews

aristarchus [soylentnews.org] writes:

Consequences still are occuring for the participants in the "Untie the Right" rally in Charlottesville. This story from Newsweek [newsweek.com].

New Jersey man who is accused of lying about his membership in a white supremacist group in order to gain security clearance at a Navy facility was arrested and indicted Friday on federal charges of making false statements to government agents.

Fred C. Arena of Salem, New Jersey is alleged to have lied about belonging to Vanguard America, an alt-right hate group, on a security clearance form for his job at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Authorities also claim that the man lied about his association with the group when FBI agents asked him about it during an August 2018 interview.

"Lying on federal security clearance forms and to government agents will land you in big trouble," said U.S. Attorney William McSwain in a press release. "Further, the nature of the defendant's alleged lies—attempting to conceal his affiliation with a white supremacist group in order to obtain federal employment—is extremely disturbing. I want to thank all of our law enforcement partners in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for their excellent work on this investigation."

Yes, excellent work.

The group Arena is allegedly a member of, Vanguard America, is a fascist alt-right group founded in 2015. It is an unambiguously racist hate group that advocates for an "exclusively white" America. The group was the subject of media attention after 2017's original "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the man convicted of killing a woman by ramming a car into a crowd of protestors was spotted marching with the group before the attack.

"Membership in a group espousing extremist ideology is not itself illegal—but lying to the FBI is," said Michael T. Harpster, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Philadelphia Division. "If the people we interview feel they can deceive us with impunity, critical investigations will be compromised, threatening the very integrity of the justice system. Arena lied about his history in order to obtain a security clearance he should not have had, and he lied to federal agents questioning him. These charges are the consequences of his actions."

Yep, it is the illegal part that is not a Frist Amendment part that gets the alt-smart in trouble.

If convicted, Arena faces the prospect of up to 25 years behind bars, along with a $1.25 million fine and three years of supervision

With good behavior, he could be out well after Felicity Huffman with her two-week vacation, courtesy of the Federal Government.

Original Submission