A federal grand jury in Knoxville, Tennessee, returned an indictment on May 7, charging Regan Darby Prater, 27, with arson for firebombing the Highlander Centre, a nonprofit research and education centre in New Market, Tennessee, and with carrying an explosive device during the commission of the arson.
Prater appeared in court today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill E. McCook and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges in the indictment.
He was held pending trial, which has been set for July 15 in the United States District Court in Knoxville, Tennessee.
According to court documents, on March 29, 2019, Prater used an explosive to firebomb the Highlander Centre’s administrative building, resulting in a fire that consumed the entire structure.
Documents also allege that Prater was inspired by the March 15, 2019, mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, and left a symbol of the Iron Guard, a World War II-era Romanian Nazi organization, spraypainted in the Highlander Center’s parking lot.
The same symbol appeared on the Christchurch gunman’s rifle as he livestreamed his attacks.
If convicted, Prater faces a minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison on the arson charge, and an additional ten years in prison on the explosive charge.
