Mountain States

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ADL Welcomes Arrest of White Supremacist in Incident at Colorado Springs Synagogue

  • July 18, 2017

image-of-planer

Denver, CO, June 17, 2017…The Anti-Defamation League on Monday welcomed the arrest late last week of a white supremacist suspected of placing an anti-Israel sticker on the front door of a Colorado Springs synagogue in June.

William Scott Planer, who lives in Denver, was arrested on misdemeanor charges on July 14 for allegedly affixing a “Fight Terror, Nuke Israel” sticker to the door of the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Center in Colorado Springs. Additionally, he is being held at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office on a $500,000 bond as a fugitive from justice for felony charges in California. The charges, assault with a deadly weapon and participating in a riot, stem from Planer’s alleged attack on a protester during a clash at a June 2016 white supremacist march in Sacramento, California.

Scott L. Levin, ADL Mountain States Regional Director, said, “The Anti-Defamation League commends the Colorado Springs Police Department for investigating the incident at Chabad Lubavitch of Southern Colorado as a hate crime and welcomes the arrest of a suspect in not only this incident, but other extremist activity outside of Colorado. Although individuals are free to express their opinions, crossing the line from speech into criminal activity it is not acceptable.”

Originally from Sacramento, Planer has been on the ADL’s Center on Extremism’s radar for a number of years. He is associated with at least two known white supremacist groups, including the Golden State Skinheads (GSS), a California-based racist skinhead crew founded in 2003, and the Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP), a white supremacist group led by Matthew Heimbach and Matt Parrott.

Planer’s arrest comes as white supremacists appear to be increasingly focused on carrying out explicitly anti-Semitic vandalism and plots. More information on Planer and the incidents occurring nationwide can be found on ADL’s blog.

 

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.