A man from Tennessee has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for an arson attack and for attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah, the US Department of Justice announced on Wednesday. The offenses date back to 2019.
Regan Darby Prater, 28, was also ordered to pay nearly $1.3 million in restitution. He had pleaded guilty to the charges in April.
According to the DOJ, Prater used what it described as a "napalm-based incendiary device" to destroy buildings belonging to the Highlander Center, a nonprofit research and education center in Tennessee. The fire caused more than a million dollars in damage.
Court records showed that before setting the blaze, Prater spray-painted a Nazi symbol in the center's parking lot. The same symbol was engraved on a rifle used in the 2019 terror attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Prater admitted that white-supremacist ideology motivated the arson. He also acknowledged that he chose the nonprofit because of its faith-based educational priorities and its association with civil rights.
The DOJ further said Prater admitted to providing material support to Hezbollah. It stated that he obtained documents containing personal information on more than 35,000 individuals allegedly affiliated with Israel's government. The department did not specify how he got hold of those documents.
Prater passed the sensitive information to a person he believed was part of Hezbollah, the DOJ said. He reportedly told that supposed operative to "start the hunt."
The case was investigated by the FBI's Nashville field office, with assistance from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, according to the DOJ.
