Feds: Selden man part of neo-Nazi plot targeting LI synagogue, minorities

A former U.S. Marine from Selden allegedly planned to commit “widespread homicide and sexual assault,” part of a neo-Nazi plot to attack a Long Island synagogue and minority communities nationwide, according to court papers filed by federal prosecutors.

Matthew Belanger, 25, was arrested on June 10 and charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and other crimes, federal prosecutors said in court filings last month in Hawaii federal court. He is accused by prosecutors of lying to a federal firearms licensee as part of a plan to have a "police officer" purchase an assault rifle and a handgun for him from a gun shop in Port Jefferson Station, "which is the municipality in which Officer resides and works," court papers said.

According to the court papers, Belanger is a member of the far-right organization “Rapekrieg.” He trained with other members of the neo-Nazi group in the woods near a Long Island synagogue, according to court papers. Prosecutors did not identify the synagogue or its location. The group allegedly hoped to boost the white population and attack the “Zionist Order of Governments," prosecutors said.

“Defendant and Rapekrieg members originally discussed ‘shooting up’ the synagogue, but eventually decided that burning it down at night using Molotov cocktails was a better plan,” the court papers said. 

Belanger, who is in federal custody in Hawaii, pleaded not guilty to the charges during an arraignment Monday. The FBI began investigating Belanger, who served in the Marines Corps from 2019 until May 2021, while he was stationed in Honolulu. His arrest and indictment was first reported Monday by Rolling Stone. 

The Marine Corps discharged Belanger with an "other than honorable discharge" in May 2021, according to the court papers. 

Belanger’s attorneys, Katryna Lyn Spearman of Atlanta and Leighton K. Lee of Honolulu, did not immediately return requests for comment. 

The officer, who was not identified by prosecutors, allegedly purchased a PTR91 assault rifle and a Luger handgun for Belanger from Fred’s Gun Shop in Port Jefferson Station, according to federal officials. A phone number listed for the gun shop was not working Wednesday.

Marine Corps officials and FBI agents who searched Belanger’s barracks and his electronic devices allegedly found 1,950 images, videos and documents related to white power groups, Nazi literature and materials espousing violence toward the Jewish community, minorities and women, the court documents said. 

Belanger and other associates from Long Island had allegedly procured weapons, uniforms and tactical gear, according to the court documents. In addition to the planned attack on the synagogue, the group also discussed committing attacks on Jews, women and minorities, according to federal prosecutors. They talked about using rape to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate their perceived enemies, the court papers said. 

According to the court documents, Belanger urged others on an encrypted group chat during the nationwide protests in 2020 over George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer to disguise themselves as Hasidic Jews “and shoot until a crowd of protesters are dead.” 

Belanger also created a fake Twitter account to generate Black hate toward the Jewish community by making derogatory statements while disguised as a Jewish man, prosecutors said.