CLEVELAND, Ohio — A neo-Nazi who hurled Molotov cocktails at a Geauga County church because it hosted drag-queen story hour and other events pleaded guilty Monday to a federal hate crime charge.
Aimenn Penny, 20, entered the pleas in federal court in Cleveland to obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs and arson.
Penny faces between 14 years and three months in prison and 15 years and three months when U.S. District Judge Bridget Brennan sentences him on Jan. 29.
Prosecutors and Penny’s defense attorney, John Greven, are allowed to argue for more or less time, but Brennan must sentence Penny to at least 10 years in prison. Greven declined comment after the hearing.
Penny’s March 25 firebombing took place amid a spike of white-supremacist activity in Ohio, including sharp increases in gatherings of hate groups and recruitment efforts in recent years.
Penny was arrested on March 31, the day before the Community Church of Chesterland and the restaurant Element 41 in Chardon hosted drag-queen story events. Those events have been met nationwide with anger and protests by far-right groups, including neo-Nazis and White Lives Matter Ohio, which Penny belonged to as a member.
Community Church of Chesterland Rev. Jess Peacock praised the outcome of the case. Peacock uses the gender-neutral pronoun “they.”
Peacock said they wish no harm on Penny specifically, but it’s important to show the community there are repercussions.
“Actions like this need to have consequences,” Peacock said. “There needs to be a cooling effect to anyone who may want to burn down a church or a mosque or a synagogue.”
The weeks leading up to the events were tense, particularly following a drag-queen story hour event in Wadsworth in which a large neo-Nazi group, including Penny, showed up. The protest turned chaotic, when he and others shouted homophobic slurs at the crowd, along with chanting “Heil Hitler.”
Penny told FBI agents he decided to throw two Molotov cocktails at the Chester Township church after watching internet videos of drag shows in France, court records say. He told the agents he wanted to “protect children” by disrupting future drag shows, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Deckert said during the hearing.
Penny drove from his Alliance home to Chester Township and tossed the homemade devices filled with gasoline at the church and a sign near its driveway, leaving scorch marks. He later told FBI agents his only regret was that the church didn’t burn to the ground.
FBI agents seized items from Penny’s home, including a Nazi flag, Nazi memorabilia, a White Lives Matter Ohio shirt, a gas mask, gas cans and a handwritten manifesto that included “ideological statements,” according to court records.
Investigators dug into his background and found that in October 2022, Alliance police spotted him distributing White Lives Matter flyers on police cruisers and other cars.
Penny told officers he was spreading the word that Black Americans were “the problem,” and that he believed Black citizens were “solely responsible” for the high crime rate in the country. He told Alliance police that he believes in, and looks forward to, a race war in America.
Peacock expects members of the congregation to attend the sentencing hearing.
“We’re not celebrating this at all,” Peacock said. “We wish it never happened in first place. Actions have to have consequences. But it’s reassuring in this polarized political climate that the justice system is working.”
Adam Ferrise covers federal courts at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. You can find his work here.