Houghton Man Sentenced to 26 Months for Damages to Temple Jacob in 2019

A Houghton man has been sentenced to 26 months for conspiracy to intimidate and damage religious property. Nathan Weeden, 23 years old of Houghton, was sentenced to 26 months for his involvement in 2019 tagging Temple Jacob with white supremacist symbols. Weeden was convicted earlier this year on one count of conspiracy to injure or intimidate persons exercising their rights, and one count of damaging religious property. In September 2019 Weeden, and two co-conspirators, organized an attack on Jewish and African American properties, intentionally leaving cryptic messages and symbols in an attempt to intimidate those communities. Weeden, Richard Tobin, and Yousef Barasneh are all members of the white supremacist group The Base and organized the attack dubbed Operation Kristallnacht. The prosecution’s sentencing memorandum requested Weeden be sentenced to 36 months due to the extent of his crimes, prior illegal conversion of a rifle into an automatic weapon, lack of remorse, and dedication to neo-Nazi ideologies. Richard Tobin was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. Barasneh pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in 2020 and was a key witness in the case against Weeden. He received two months probation in March as a part of his sentence.