31-year-old Tennessee man linked to the virulently anti-Jewish ‘Goyim Defense League’ arrested after attempting to force his way into a Jewish community center in Nashville while posing as a Hasidic Jew.
By World Israel News Staff
Nashville police arrested a neo-Nazi activist earlier this month, after he attempted to force his way into a local Jewish community center while posing as a Hasidic Jew.
On January 15th, Metro Nashville Police arrested Travis Keith Garland, a 31-year-old resident of Maryville, Tennessee, two days after he showed up at the Gordon Jewish Community Center in Nashville and demanded to speak to a local rabbi.
During the confrontation with a receptionist at the JCC, Garland, dressed up as a Hasidic Jew, refused to leave the complex, holding out his phone as if he were filming the incident.
After the receptionist informed Garland that no rabbi was present at the JCC, Garland entered a staff-only section of the building after a door was left open by several staff members, ignoring the receptionist’s calls on him to halt.
The two staff members who had passed through the door turned around to block Garland, preventing him from proceeding further until a security guard was called to the.
During the ensuing confrontation, the guard ordered Garland to leave the building, while Garland reportedly began “eyeing” the guard’s pistol, “putting him in fear that he might try to take it,” a Nashville Metro Police spokesperson said.
When police arrived on the scene, Garland downplayed the event, saying that the incident was merely an internet prank.
After the confrontation, Garland wrote about the incident on a Telegram group chat affiliated with the antisemitic Goyim Defense League, admitting that he had harassed the center’s employees.
“I wore the rabbi costume and went into their jew building harassing them … and the dude freaked out.”
According to a report by the London-based Jewish Chronicle, Garland allegedly used racist slurs agaisnt Asians and blacks.
Authorities have charged Garland with trespassing, assault, civil rights intimidation, and civil rights violations.
A county judge initially set Garland’s bail at $250,000, though he was later denied bail, after Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk requested that the preliminary decision to set bail be overturned.
“He attempted to enter the Gordon Jewish Community Center,” said Funk. “He ignored the directions from the front desk folks, tried to get into a secure area, had to be physically stopped.”
“For all those reasons, we are concerned for public safety. We are also concerned whether or not the person would ever come back to court.”
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