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Gun charge yields year in prison for Virginia man with neo-Nazi ties

Andrew T.PNG
Posted at 12:27 PM, Feb 28, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-28 12:27:06-05

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A northern Virginia man with ties to a violent neo-Nazi group has been sentenced to a year in prison for weapons violations.

Twenty-one-year-old Andrew Jon Thomasberg of McLean admitted as part of a plea bargain in federal court in Alexandria that he bought a semiautomatic rifle for another person and that he possessed weapons while abusing psychedelic drugs.

Prosecutors say Thomasberg was a leader and recruiter for a Virginia-based cell of a neo-Nazi group called Atomwaffen Division.

At a sentencing hearing Friday, Thomasberg apologized and said he's renouncing his racist ideology.

Prosecutors had sought an 18-month sentence.