February 28, 2022

Justin O'Leary, aka "Ethan WA"

Justin Michael O'Leary is a member of the neo-Nazi, neo-fascist, white-supremacist group Patriot Front (PF). He operates under the name "Ethan WA" and lives in Des Moines, WA, with his wife, who holds similar views. O'Leary is the acting Network Quartermaster, making him responsible for storing materials used in various hate crimes in the Pacific Northwest.

O'Leary is highly active and has attended several Patriot Front banner drops, stencilings, hikes, and more. O'Leary helped deface the "Respect and Love Olympia" mural in October 2021, and was also present at the recent December 4th fascist march in Washington, DC.

Patriot Front is known for holding fascist flash mobs in major cities, which are planned in secret so members can march without any real confrontation. The group is an offshoot of Vanguard America, a fascist organization that fell apart after the deadly "Unite the Right" rally on August 12th, 2017. Vanguard America gained significant attention after that event when it was revealed that James Alex Fields had marched with them before driving his car into a crowd and killing Heather Heyer. Vanguard America claimed that Fields, who showed up wearing the standard uniform of a white polo and khakis and carried a Vanguard America shield, was not actually a member. One leader of the group, Dillon Hopper, accused Rousseau of inviting Fields to march with them at that deadly event.

After the bad press, Thomas Rousseau, who led the Vanguard America contingent at Unite the Right, took the organization's tech infrastructure that he had previously hijacked and started Patriot Front as a new organization.

While Patriot Front does not yet have a body count themselves,1 fascism as a philosophy is inherently violent and is characterized by forcible suppression of opposition. Members of PF do discuss committing violence against their political opposition and marginalized groups. O'Leary has demonstrated a disposition towards violent thoughts, at one point talking about beating up people who took a Patriot Front banner off the highway. He also joined a shield team after his Network Director, Colton Michael Brown, set an expectation those team members might need to commit assault against people of color at PF events. In this article we will elaborate on both cases and describe Patriot Front's connections to other violent groups.

Background

Justin O'Leary places a sticker at the University of Washington Seattle campus.

Justin O'Leary first interviewed with Patriot Front on August 7th, 2021. In this first interview, O'Leary detailed the path he took to becoming a neo-Nazi. Despite being a Jill Stein voter in 2016, O'Leary described being radicalized to the right by Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder. Owen Benjamin, a right-wing comedian who denies the Holocaust and defends Hitler, convinced O'Leary that masturbating was bad and antithetical to starting families. Through Benjamin, and fellow antisemitic figure Nick Fuentes, O'Leary was introduced to Thomas Sewell, the Australian neo-Nazi who leads the National Socialist Network and founded another white supremacist group that once tried to recruit the man who would become the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooter. Thomas Sewell, who was arrested for assault and armed robbery, gave Patriot Front a positive review, as did the US-based Nationalist Social Club2, and O'Leary decided to give Patriot Front a closer look.

O'Leary did his in-person interview on August 13th at a public park near SeaTac, WA. He mentioned following various white nationalist groups and right-wing figures, including the founder of the Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes. He was drawn toward Patriot Front because of its anti-immigration slogans, and during his interview he described how he doesn't like the idea of other ethnic groups in the US voting and speaking languages other than English. He stated his belief that people of other races are having children faster than white people, echoing racist "Great Replacement" conspiracy theories.

The entirety of his in-person interview was recorded and is available below:

Audio: Full audio of Justin O'Leary's in-person interview with "Jack WA."

Since passing Patriot Front's vetting process, O'Leary has been a reliable member, showing up to nearly every event and online conference call. His dedication to the organization, particularly in buying supplies and making banners in his own backyard, earned him recognition that went towards making him the acting Network Quartermaster. He particularly likes targeting campuses and parts of Seattle that Patriot Front members would view as "adversarial" due to being queer-friendly neighborhoods or having liberal values.

Breaking the law and taking risks are not issues for O'Leary. Members joke that activities like stickering are "boring" and low-risk (unless you make an obvious error, like Colton Brown did when he let people follow him back to his vehicle). However, even stickering can earn a member a mischief misdemeanor in Washington, and members commit worse when they vandalize BLM and LGBTQ murals.3 After a new member flaked out of a planned action to glue posters over a utility box with Angela Davis artwork, O'Leary commented that he doesn't have such hesitations.

Audio: Justin O'Leary and Richard James Flannery discuss various risks of actions. Both fondly remember vandalizing an LGBTQ mural in Olympia, WA.

Notable Appearances With Patriot Front

Banner Drops

From left to right: Jacob Sundt, James Julius Johnson, Colton Brown, and Justin O'Leary (blue shirt and light brown hat).

Justin O'Leary has been involved in every aspect of banner creation and placement and has shown up to nearly every banner drop since becoming a member. This is a rare feat for even the most dedicated new members. His enthusiasm for making banners and his willingness to do so both at Patriot Front gatherings and alone at his house helped earn him the acting Network Quartermaster title. Soon after joining, O'Leary was making multiple banners a week and often asking others what slogans to put on each.

Like many conversations in Patriot Front chats, this one quickly devolved into reflexive antisemitism.

O'Leary is seen carrying banner supplies with Jacob "Clarke WA" Sundt at one of Sundt's first appearances with the group.

Below, O'Leary is seen painting with stencils. These same stencils will later be used for vandalism in the greater Seattle area. Not yet acting Network Quartermaster, he was still trusted to store the stencils at his house.

O'Leary is open to banner message ideas, but more often than not he sticks to a small rotation of phrases based on limited stencil availability. He particularly likes "Reclaim America" and "America First" as options that represent his anti-immigration views. In the following audio, O'Leary expresses his like of an older slogan, "Deport Them All," but it is no longer an approved option for PF promotional materials. While many Patriot Front members prefer the explicit threat of the obsolescent phrase, leadership has opted to go with more subtle dog-whistles like, "One Nation Against Invasion." Forced deportation, which would require violence to enact, is a hallmark feature of fascist policy.

Audio: Patriot Front members discuss thoughts about the current "generation" of messaging.

O'Leary has been photographed frequently at Patriot Front banner drops. He is usually wearing one of two shirts, the same pair of glasses, and a light brown hat. He also wears the same New Balance shoes as he does when creating banners, as seen in pictures above.

Justin O'Leary (left) climbing a fence to attach a banner in Kent.

Patriot Front members will sometimes put in extra effort that they believe will make it harder to take down their banners. Often this includes climbing on top of dangerous structures or covered pedestrian overpasses. They believe that antifascist community members are unable to get those banners down quickly, despite repeated evidence to the contrary. O'Leary often assists Colton Brown from underneath as the latter climbs up top to attach these banners.

These efforts to make their banners longer-lasting includes some hardware tricks as well. Network 8 members have been spotted employing metal pipe clamps, which are ostensibly harder to cut through than the usual plastic zip ties. Practically, however, it's rarely an impediment to getting the banners down. In some cases members will even bring hand drills to strip the screws and hope that this makes it harder to get the clamps off the bridge. O'Leary is seen doing this in the following video.

Members are so frustrated by the futility of their efforts that they will go through some effort to recover the banners or confront those responsible for taking banners down. When Colton Brown found that one Kitsap County banner had been taken off of a pedestrian overpass after a very short period of time, he rerouted his truck to look for the banner in nearby dumpsters and harassed a local Indigenous man who was nearby. Brown assumed that man was responsible for the takedown.

O'Leary, however, has been quicker to suggest violence. He and Jacob Sundt were surprised to find that a banner they put up in Snohomish County was already down by the time that they could get back on the highway to document the placement. That shock turned to anger and both O'Leary and Sundt wanted to drive around nearby parking lots looking for the responsible parties in order to assault them and possibly get the banner back.

Audio: Justin O'Leary and Jacob Sundt are frustrated that their Patriot Front banner was taken down in minutes and talk about looking for and beating up antifascists.
Justin O'Leary (left) clearly visible without sunglasses during an evening banner drop near Alderwood Mall. O'Leary would soon be alarmed at how quickly that particular banner disappeared.

O'Leary later recounts the story to his Network Director over a call:

Audio: Justin O'Leary recounts finding that a Patriot Front banner was taken down within minutes and wanting to confront the people who took it down.

In video of the incident, O'Leary finds two vehicles parked in a nearby lot and confronts the occupants. These people were not involved in the banner takedown and likely had no idea why a group of masked men were suddenly approaching their vehicle and rapping on the windows. Naturally, they drive off quickly. O'Leary decides that an appropriate response to their retreat is to give chase and he starts running down the lot after them.

The search was fruitless, and O'Leary believed the drivers got away with the banners. He is told by the PF videographer, an infiltrator, that the license plates were not captured on video.

Camp Muir Hike

Justin O'Leary in a Patriot Front group photo before the Mt. Rainier hike.

In late August 2021, Network 8 hosted a camping event in the Mt. Rainier area, including a hike to Camp Muir, which was attended by current and former members from Washington, Oregon, and California. Patriot Front puts on events like these largely for propaganda purposes: they believe that showing their members enduring difficult hikes will demonstrate that Patriot Front is an organization that values brotherhood and has the strength to overcome challenges. These events usually include speeches and casual chats in which members repeat racial slurs, express admiration for fascism and Hitler, and share conspiracy theories about Jews.

Justin O'Leary was present for this hike and these speeches. Despite being a member for less than a month at the time, O'Leary was trusted enough to be responsible for picking up California members from the airport before the hike. This also means that O'Leary was dedicated to the group, enough to attend this large weekend event with little notice.

Audio: After another member flakes out of an action, O'Leary remembers an early ask in his membership.
Justin O'Leary (in a green sweater) at the Patriot Front campsite before the hike.
Justin O'Leary hiking on Mt. Rainier with other identified Patriot Front members, including at least one Colton.

Notably, O'Leary also appears in an "Active Club" photo opportunity. "Active Club" is a brand of fascist fight clubs established by Rob Rundo. Rundo is on the run in Europe after several incidents of violence he committed in California under the banner of another one of his projects, the "Rise Above Movement (RAM)." Active Clubs are a rebrand of RAM.

Another Rundo pet project, Media2Rise, is a nexus point between Active Clubs, Patriot Front, and other neo-fascist groups. Patriot Front member (and Thomas Rousseau's roommate) Graham "Mason TX" Whitson works with Rundo and appears on the about us page of the Media2Rise website. His name also appears on paperwork for Will2Rise's merch shop. The other listed crew member of Media2Rise, Allen Michael Goff aka "Lucca Corgiat," is a neo-Nazi with a violent history who is also connected with a Colorado-area Active Club. Goff was the face of Media2Rise in their documentary centered on Patriot Front.

Patriot Front and Swastika Stenciling in Enumclaw

Colton Michael Brown needed to train members of NW8 to use large stencils efficiently and quickly, as slow stencil work could lead to run-ins with their opposition or the police. In the furtherance of that goal, the Network Director has a specific bridge (map) near Kanaskat, WA, where he brings newer members for stenciling practice. In late September, Brown held a practice there for newer members in preparation of defacing an LGBTQ mural in Olympia.

Members were instructed how to quickly white-out existing art on the bridge. This skill would prove useful in later hate crimes.

In addition to writing white nationalist slogans on one side of the bridge, O'Leary was also present when Patriot Front members drew swastikas on the other side before leaving the area. It turns out Nazis aren't great at painting their own symbols correctly, which causes some laughter from O'Leary and Jacob Sundt.

Audio: Network Director Colton Brown and "Charles WA" paint swastikas under a bridge.

He was also present for the following moment in which Colton Brown predicts Thomas Rousseau's disapproval of them painting explicit Nazi symbols in close proximity to the Patriot Front stencils. Brown conjures up a lie to Thomas, borne from one of his younger member's hilarious errors: his cover would be that Patriot Front members surely wouldn't draw a swastika in the wrong direction, even though one absolutely did.

Audio: Colton Brown considers painting future glow-in-the-dark swastikas, and tells members that these activities won't be in Patriot Front "action reports."

Defacing "Respect & Love" Rainbow Mural in Olympia

Justin O'Leary (left) preparing the lower half of a Patriot Front stencil over an LGBTQ mural in Olympia.

Around 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 16th, members of Patriot Front vandalized a "Respect & Love Olympia" mural, covering it with white paint before stenciling over it with their nationalist slogan and links to their Nazi website. This effort involved weeks of planning with members from across the entire Pacific Northwest contingent of Patriot Front, as well as with knowledge and assistance from Thomas Rousseau.6

From the Journal of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater (JOLT):

The Rainbow mural was created in 2014 as a community statement against hate crimes happening in Olympia, including several violent attacks outside Jake's, then Olympia's sole gay bar, according to Schlecht. (archive)

In calls leading up to the event, Colton Brown described the planned mural cover-up as the "biggest org-wide" for Patriot Front to date.

Audio: Colton Brown believes the Olympia cover-up is one example in a series of actions that shows that the Washington members are "ramping up the ante."[sic]

Justin O'Leary helped deface the mural and cover it with Patriot Front propaganda. Since O'Leary was trusted enough to store Network 8's supplies at his house, he also had the stencils in his possession prior to the event and was responsible for preparing the stencils to have the correct message for the act.

Audio: PNW Patriot Front members inventory supplies before the Olympia mural defacement. Colton Brown instructs Justin O'Leary on how to prepare the banner stencils.

Members speculated that the Olympia LGBTQ mural vandalism would lead to a federal law enforcement investigation. In the audio clip below, Brown instructed members to leave their phones at home, recognizing that the government has the capability to track their locations.

O'Leary also recognized the threat, and, in a later call after the event, discussed the risks of having parked so close to the mural. He believes that it's possible that the Seattle FBI field office could get involved in the investigation and that it would be easy for a party with such resources to track their movements over several blocks by using local security cameras.

Audio: Justin O'Leary presses Jacob Sundt to talk to Colton Brown about their concerns regarding parking at a McDonald's near the mural. (Note: members also threw up stickers close to the parking lot in a rushed bid to fulfill their sticker quota for the week, which was also deemed an operational security mistake.)

He also asked Brown about the risk of arrest. The concerns were prompted by his wife, Kendra Cass, who was also listening in on the call and presumably overheard the hate crime plans.

Audio: O'Leary asks about arrest risk. Brown quells concerns and offers an escape plan.

Network 8 members, plus members of local non-network clusters, rehearsed the vandalism late on October 15th, 2021, at an abandoned brewery in Tumwater, WA. O'Leary can be seen in his typical blue shirt on the left in the following video, in which Brown instructs his subordinates to watch out for antifascists and police.

The plan was to cover one side of the Olympia mural with one of their slogans, with the other side showing their website URL. Spaces in between were to be filled with various smaller stencils. At the Tumwater rehearsal, Brown had the membership split into groups, and O'Leary's group would be responsible for spraying the URL stencil. In the video below, he is seen at the rehearsal debating the best spray patterns with "David WA" and "Johnny ID." The latter more-experienced members tell him to focus on speed over quality, as drivers wouldn't notice the difference... forgetting that one reason the "Respect and Love Olympia" mural was chosen was that traffic on that street was closed for construction.

O'Leary's participation in the Olympia mural cover-up is documented at every step thanks to Patriot Front's insistence that all of their hate crimes be heavily photographed. After the Tumwater rehearsal O'Leary changed to a black hat but kept the rest of his outfit the same.5 Seen here walking down the alley with the rest of the group, O'Leary carried some of the white paint that will be used in the first seconds of the vandalism to deface the LGBTQ mural.

In the following video O'Leary is spraying blue paint while "David WA" and "Johnny ID" hold the URL stencil. He struggles to get the paint on the wall cleanly, and that ends up making the action take twice as long as estimated. (Later, Colton Brown reported the estimated duration of the act instead of the actual duration to Thomas. Brown had timestamped videos and was told in person that the estimates were wrong, but reported the shorter times anyway.)

Other Stenciling

Jacob Sundt and Justin O'Leary (right) at Cal Anderson Park.

After the Olympia mural defacement, Colton Brown invited Jacob Sundt and Justin O'Leary to do other stencil vandalism in Seattle. To Brown, the city represents the highest form of opposition; he views Seattle as a liberal stronghold in Washington, and its diversity runs counter to Patriot Front's racist values. Sundt and Brown brainstormed a few different target options, including the Black Lives Matter mural on East Pine Street in Capitol Hill.

Eventually they decided to target both Downtown Seattle and the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Capitol Hill especially is known for being relatively LGBTQ-friendly. The area gained notoriety during the 2020 George Floyd uprisings when the Seattle Police Department abandoned the area and it became the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. The blocks around Cal Anderson Park became a priority propaganda target for Brown and Sundt due to its perceived association with leftist activism.

Colton Brown took several pictures and videos of Sundt and O'Leary at the scene of these incidents in both Capitol Hill and Downtown Seattle.

Sundt (left) and O'Leary (right) putting up stencils across from Seattle City Hall. They hoped that this location would earn them attention with the local news, but the stencils were covered too quickly.

All of these stencils were covered quickly. O'Leary speculated that their party might have been spotted and followed.

National Event Preparation: Drilling and Sparring

Justin O'Leary doing boxing drills with Network Director Colton Brown.

Each regional PF network was expected to hold three drilling sessions between October and December 2021 in preparation for their December 4th fascist march. Network 8 members were only able to muster mandatory minimum attendance for two sessions in that time, and Justin O'Leary was present at both.4 Members practiced marching cadences and ran shield drills, essentially trying out for spots on the shield teams present at Patriot Front marches.

Thomas wants the public to view Patriot Front's shield teams as a purely defensive formation. However, in previously-unreleased audio recorded during Network 8 drilling sessions at public parks, Network Director Colton Brown sets the expectation that shield team members may end up proactively assaulting their opposition, primarily citing a need to go after Black men they view as a threat. In the audio below, Brown gives his recollection of an encounter in Philadelphia between Patriot Front shield team members and people of color. Brown says that shield teams will not allow such encounters going forward, blames one particular crowd member for emboldening others, and states that any similar Black man at future events will get "dispatched, quickly." 7

At some point after hearing these expectations of violence from his Network Director, O'Leary accepted a role on a shield team.

A clear picture of Justin O'Leary's face and outfit during a boxing drill. He is working with Colton Brown, the Network Director who would end up being his shield team leader in Washington, DC.

Targets of shield team engagement aren't just limited to private individuals. Brown makes it clear that both shield team members and flag bearers at the march should be prepared for the possibility of resisting arrest and forming their lines in ways that would ensure that they outnumber and exhaust any police that would attempt to approach targeted members.

Those holding flagpoles are expected to drop their flags and link arms, making it difficult for police or "antifa" to break their lines. A document obtained by Unicorn Riot (PDF) shows how the drills teach members to protect themselves from getting isolated from their group. Other members will act as aggressors, to "emulate the practice seen by some of snatching a supposed agitator away from his surroundings to deal with him individually."

During the first Network 8 drilling meetup, members interpret those "snatchers" to be police or antifascists. It is made clear that one purpose of the technique is to resist arrest. Members ask if the drill was only an "anti-cop" maneuver, which Brown says it isn't. Rank-and-file PNW members are shocked and upset to hear that flagbearers are expected to be passive, unlike shield teams.

Audio: Colton Brown responds to member concerns about being a passive flagbearer.

Brown responds to member concerns by saying that a quarter of the marchers will be on shields, so being a defenseless flagbearer under assault is unlikely. He clarifies that the fortified stance gives them "strength in numbers" and that he doesn't believe the police will bring enough officers to arrest all of the Patriot Front members. The goal of linking arms in their formation is to make it too difficult to arrest any individual member, while shield teams are engaged.

While Brown is prone to misunderstanding or disobeying commands from Thomas Rousseau, leaked videos show that he is faithfully interpreting his leader's intentions. In the video below, Thomas himself instructs a line of pretend flagbearers, telling them to "link up." When Kieran "Patrick TX" Morris asks how they would do this while carrying flags, Thomas says their choice is "between getting arrested and dropping a flag." He agrees with another member's notion to just drop the flag in order to have arms free to enter a linked, braced position. Rousseau imagines how a "pig" trying to capture a Patriot Front member would quickly get outnumbered.

Later drilling sessions in November would see Network 8 repeating these drills, with more emphasis on sparring. Sparring, and exercise in general, are commonly exploited and documented as "activism" moments and used as propaganda to aim at the disaffected white boy neo-Nazi demographic. Patriot Front members capture these sessions through photos and videos, but most are left on the cutting room floor in efforts to find the rare nuggets that their untrained followers might misinterpret as any semblance of fighting skill.

O'Leary took part in these sparring drills, which were expected to be useful for assessing those looking to become shield team members. Being able to defend themselves, given the possibility of confrontation, was deemed a must. In the following picture, O'Leary is sparring with Jacob "Clarke WA" Sundt. Oregon member Lawrence "Frederick OR" Norman is seen holding a flag behind them.

Yard Sign Theft and the Network 8 Thanksgiving Party

On November 20, 2021, Network 8 hosted a Thanksgiving party at an AirBnB near Darrington, WA. James Julius Johnson planned the event and rented the space, and Network Director Colton Brown wrote the invitation that was sent over chats to members from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

Notably, Brown asked members to bring small 3D-printed stencils and yard signs. Acting Network Scribe Jacob Sundt came up with an idea: he spent weeks stealing yard signs from private property with the intent to paint over the signs with PF's white nationalist slogans, before placing them on city streets as cheap advertisements. He was killing two birds with one stone: by stealing signs, Patriot Front members wouldn't have to spend as much money on materials, and by targeting yard signs with pro-LGBTQ or pro-diversity slogans they were removing "oppositional messaging" from the community. Other stolen materials, such as flags, would go towards a yearly bonfire.8

One of Jacob Sundt's haul of stolen yard signs, posted in the Network 8 chat.

Justin O'Leary had already gleefully stolen "opposition" materials from peoples' homes by the time Sundt's idea was shared. Like Sundt and Johnson, he posted photos of his spoils in the Network's chat.

Network 8 was expecting a large turnout to their Thanksgiving event, so it was the perfect moment for members to collect all of their stolen materials in one place.

They used that weekend to paint over the yard signs, replacing messages of diversity with ethnonationalism. Like their other hate crimes, members made sure to document the results and shared a group picture with others.

These signs went undeployed until after their fascist march in DC, when Patriot Front members realized they had been infiltrated9 after a disastrous march and new series of articles identifying members were published. Members placed the signs around Snohomish County in late January, where they believed their infiltrator lived.

Around this time, the Snohomish community noticed that PF signs were being coated with chemical irritants, presumably with the intent of injuring whoever took them down. PF banners were getting the same treatment, along with banners attributed to other white supremacist groups. The Telegram channels associated with those groups have seen an influx of PF members since December.

Public report of signs laced with chemicals. One of these signs can be seen in the group photo from Network 8's Thanksgiving party near Darrington, WA

Patriot Front's members used to poke fun at tweets suggesting they would ever do things like put razor blades behind their stickers. Now, their contaminated materials are injuring those in the community who dare to take down fascist propaganda—in some cases, hurting members of the public who came across the signs by accident. This escalation in tactics is concerning, and is evidence that Patriot Front's failing org is feeling cornered, lashing out in response to several recent articles documenting their dirty laundry for the world to see.

Network 8 members have increased their parallel organizing in white supremacist Telegram groups since December. Brown and O'Leary are two of multiple Patriot Front members in these local groups, desperate to bolster their organization's numbers. The channel responsible for some of the contaminated materials is one of Telegram's many neo-Nazi communities devoted to the idea of the Northwest Territorial Imperative. This white separatist movement is characterized by the idea of expulsion of non-whites from Pacific Northwest states and was popularized by multiple Washington figures. This includes Robert Jay Mathews, the leader of The Order who was killed in a shootout with the FBI on Whidbey Island, and the late Harold Covington, who lived in Bremerton and celebrated Dylann Roof's racially-motivated massacre.

Justin O'Leary was an active member of the Telegram chat which took credit for one of the contaminated banners, and Network 8's Director, Colton Brown, is listed as the Seattle-area contact for the group.

Fascist March on Washington, DC

On December 4th, 2021, Patriot Front held a march in Washington, DC.

By the time December rolled around, Justin O'Leary found himself elevated to the level of de facto network leadership. Along with being acting Network Quartermaster, he also helped run conference calls on occasion. This included the call right before their fascist march in which he made sure everyone was good to go on their travel packing.

Audio: Network 8 members discuss doing events the week before the December 4th demo, and Justin O'Leary gives some pre-event reminders.

Members also discussed getting to the SeaTac airport to fly out to the event. Because the network only planned on two vehicles driving to the airport, and had more members than seats available, O'Leary offered to ride in the trunk.

Audio: When the group doesn't plan enough transportation to the airport, Justin O'Leary offers to ride in a trunk.

O'Leary was responsible for reserving the rental vehicles Network 8 used to get from the airport in New Jersey to the PF campsite in Virginia. As we wrote in the Jacob Sundt article, Thomas Rousseau asks his members to fly into airports hours away from the campsite for national events, and doesn't tell members the final event location. Most members don't even know the campsite location until they arrive at a designated "security checkpoint" near the campsite. The Pacific Northwest had enough members flying in from SeaTac to fill two SUVs, which O'Leary rented from Avis.10

Justin O'Leary outlines the rental costs. The actual cost was different because O'Leary did not get the rental vehicle insurance.

According to an image posted in the private "Shield Section Team Planning" chat in the Patriot Front server, O'Leary was expected to be on a "screen" team responsible for protecting column flanks and camera operators, using small plastic shields. He would be overseen by his Network Director Colton Brown, himself taking orders from Kieran "Patrick TX" Morris, who lives with leader Thomas Rousseau in Haslet, TX.

And, indeed, O'Leary was spotted training at the Virginia campsite, holding a small shield with other members of his shield team during rehearsal marches.

Justin O'Leary marching with other identified PNW members. The drill is overseen by Thomas Rousseau and Media2Rise's Allen Michael Goff.

When Patriot Front ran into logistical difficulties due to antifascist action during their march, their members had to wait outside in the cold afterward for longer than they actually marched and chanted. According to Thomas Rousseau, both vehicles that Justin O'Leary rented were damaged, and the cost assigned to the drivers. Colton Brown complained that the Network 8 infiltrator had convinced O'Leary to skip the insurance, and the rental company subsequently charged almost $2,000 to his credit card.

Cold, sad, and several hours behind schedule, Network 8 members had to drive all night after a very long day just to barely catch their early-morning return flight out of Newark back to Seattle.

Identifying Information

Full name: Justin Michael O'Leary

O'Leary describes himself as 6'4" and 195lbs.

Birthdate: 6/18/1994

Address: 20927 2nd Ave S, Des Moines WA.

Justin and his wife own the house in Des Moines. O'Leary uses his house as a work space to create banners for Patriot Front, and some of his "progress" photos uploaded to the Patriot Front chat server were geotagged with coordinates pointing directly to his backyard.

Social Media

Telegram: Recently, @PowerRogue or @RoguePower. O'Leary has frequently switched between the two since December. He had the username @djycyjrhr before the Network 8 infiltration.

O'Leary deleted his Facebook account in anticipation of this article. Before deletion, he briefly changed his Facebook name but kept several other identifying features on his account, including his "airsoftjustin" username.

Vehicles

2008 Toyota Camry

O'Leary drives a red 2008 Toyota Camry.

License plate: Washington BVL9098. O'Leary was instructed to apply for new plates11 for his car but had not changed them at the time this article was written.

Kendra L Cass, aka "Martha WA"

Kendra Cass with her husband, Justin O'Leary.

Kendra Leigh Ann Cass is Justin O'Leary's wife and goes by the name "Martha WA" at Patriot Front gatherings. According to O'Leary, Cass has "like-minded" white supremacist and nationalist beliefs, and has participated in local Patriot Front events. She has an affinity for the swastika, listens in on Patriot Front meetings, and O'Leary says that they watch neo-Nazi livestreams together.

Multiple Patriot Front members have described how they became radicalized over time, and their wives/girlfriends followed along. PF members describe women as "followers," believing them to have less agency in forming political beliefs. At the first drilling meeting, recorded below, O'Leary grills a former member on why he is no longer with the group, and James Julius Johnson talks about the radicalization of his girlfriend, Amelia Watts, and what it takes to have a relationship when you are in white supremacist spaces.

Audio: Justin O'Leary asks former member "Matthew WA" about the issues that prevented him from staying in the organization, including a girlfriend who doesn't like Patriot Front's racism.

Later in that conversation, O'Leary talks about how he and Cass used to watch Democratic debates, but as O'Leary started liking Trump, they'd listen to podcasts from Steven Crowder and Owen Benjamin instead. Eventually they went further right and soon they were both listening to "The Hammer," a neo-Nazi Telegram channel that posts regular hateful content and has appeared at antisemitic rallies held by the Goyim Defense League.

Audio: Justin O'Leary describes his own radicalization and how his wife would listen when he played right-wing and neo-Nazi podcasts.

At that same drilling session, O'Leary brought cookies for Colton Brown's birthday. The cookies had swastikas made from chocolate chips, and O'Leary claims his wife made the cookies.

Audio: Justin O'Leary tells Colton Brown that his wife made the birthday cookies.

Cass also helped with the Thanksgiving event cooking. In the following audio, Cass discusses plans with James "Tyler WA" Johnson to coordinate with Amelia Watts for the Christmas party food planning. The discussion follows a racist slur from Colton Brown. Both he and Jacob Sundt make antisemitic comments referencing the Holocaust.

Audio: Kendra Cass and James Julius Johnson plan Christmas dinner. This audio is an extended version of audio we posted in the James Julius Johnson article.

After the Network 8 infiltration, Network Director Colton Brown visited multiple members and had to do another security vetting of Justin O'Leary to make sure he wasn't an accomplice. This included looking at the contents of O'Leary's phone. Kyle "Vincent TX" Morelli (now "Vincent PA") also advised Brown to look at O'Leary's government ID if feasible. Prior to the security vetting, Kendra Cass was described as hanging "swastika decorations" when Colton Brown visited their house, and crying over fears that their family would get identified online.

Identifying Information

Full name: Kendra Leigh Ann Cass

Birthday: 4/6/1993

Address: 20927 2nd Ave S, Des Moines WA.

Social Media: Cass deleted her Facebook account in anticipation of this article. Like O'Leary, Cass briefly and ineffectively changed her Facebook name to hide her account before ultimately deleting it.

Notes

1 That's not to say that the degree of separation between Patriot Front and murderous behavior is at all comfortably large. There was one member, "Bradley CA," who is in jail for murder, although members say that the charges are not related to the organization. More concerningly, multiple Patriot Front members (and some applicants) are connected to accelerationist neo-Nazi groups like Atomwaffen Division, which do have a body count. Others are connected to the Azov Detachment, a neo-Nazi unit of the Ukranian National Guard that is popular with LARPing neo-Nazis from America.

2 This is according to O'Leary, per Patriot Front's interview notes. Despite O'Leary's perceptions, NSC and Patriot Front are laughably less friendly in private. NSC was founded by Chris Hood, a former Patriot Front member who left after allegedly stealing money from the organization to buy weed. NSC members were recently spotted bragging about beating up Patriot Front member "Marshall MA" during their trolling of one of Thomas Rousseau's livestream interviews, and Hood is repeatedly accused of snitching on other fascists and saying negative things about Patriot Front. Patriot Front returns that bad faith in kind in their private chats.

3 Of course, Patriot Front members casually discuss other extra-curricular hate crimes as well, such as this moment where Justin O'Leary suggests using stink bombs against people of color in Auburn, WA.

Audio: Colton Brown calls Justin O'Leary after a banner drop. Brown offers extremely racist commentary about the city and O'Leary offers an offensive solution.

4 As noted in previous articles on Patriot Front members, Thomas Rousseau was active in the call where he, Colton Brown, and Jacob Sundt planned the hate crime in Olympia. Rousseau offered tips and strategies. Patriot Front members are instructed to run these plans by Rousseau for consultation. Audio of the planning call is available below:

Audio: Colton Brown and Jacob Sundt plan the Olympia mural hate crime. Thomas Rousseau joins the call at 12:30.

5 Network Director Colton Brown insisted that his members dress up like "antifa" in "black bloc" in order to blend in better in Olympia. However, he advised them to skip the "antifa logo" or "gay pride pin."

Audio: PNW members discuss "blending in" during an Olympia action.

RJ Flannery's uncontrollable excitement might remind some readers of Rose City Antifa's report of his eternal bootlicking "reply guy" personality. For us, nothing will beat this dorky simp moment between him and Colton Brown:

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Audio: Colton Brown has a birthday gift request.

6 The first drilling session happened the day of the Olympia mural vandalism, October 16th, 2021, and occured at Ravensdale Park, in Ravensdale, WA. This location is near Colton Brown's address and has been used frequently during his time in the organization. The second session was held at Pioneer Park in Tumwater, WA, on November 6th, 2021.

7 After the Philadelphia march in July 2021, Patriot Front members used sockpuppet Twitter accounts to put out misinformation about their "peaceful" presence. In private, the Network 8 infiltrator heard members bragging about several incidents of violence, including one moment where members claimed a shield-holder shoved a woman onto her back.

8 Network 8 members never recorded themselves doing any sort of bonfire with stolen materials, although it was actively planned. A Michigan bonfire shows several members in uniform as they burn pride flags (link to video); that video was featured in Unicorn Riot's story about the Patriot Front leaks. When shared with other members via a private link, the video was placed in a folder named "Garbage disposal."

9 Messages in the leaked logs on Unicorn Riot seem to imply that Patriot Front members believe there is an association between their infiltrator and the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club. The club has stated that their organization doesn't take part in infiltration operations. When asked for comment on Thomas Rousseau's accusation that the infiltrator was a JBGC/FBI/YLF triple-agent, Puget Sound JBGC spokesperson Gilberto de Piento offered to hand us a manila folder at a nondescript park bench, and then made vague comments about "the weather in Moscow this time of year" before abruptly hanging up.

10 O'Leary asked the Network 8 infiltrator to be the driver of the second SUV. Since the infiltrator didn't actually plan to attend the fascist march with them, this caused the earliest of many logistical issues on that trip. O'Leary had to find another driver at the airport when the other driver mysteriously did not appear, which was a struggle since many members are too young to rent a vehicle. "Jack WA" ended up being the second driver.

11 Patriot Front guidelines for information and operational security advise members to get new license plates if they get doxxed. After finding out that his network was infiltrated, Colton Brown recommended members falsely report their plates as stolen in order to get new license plate numbers to better hide their vehicles from the public. Antifascist activists are on alert to monitor and report back if any NW8 Patriot Front member changes his license plates.