A 20-year-old man from Glenwillard, Pennsylvania, was charged in January with possessing child sexual abuse materials. Aidan Harding also "presented an unacceptable danger to the community," say prosecutors, due to his collection of guns, posting of antisemitic literature and a "racially-motivated violent extremist ideology."
Harding had been previously adjudicated delinquent for terroristic threats after he talked online about how he wanted to commit a "high kill count" attack and had videos of mass shootings, prosecutors said. He had also allegedly filmed himself re-enacting the Columbine mass shooting at a memorial honoring those victims.
The U.S. attorney and most media don't seem interested in identifying which racially-motivated violent extremist ideology is in play, but locals aren't mincing words.
A spokesperson for the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh sent Channel 11 the following statement after we reached out: "Aidan Harding has long been on our radar due to his blatant antisemitism and ties to neo-Nazi organizations. While we cannot comment on the specific charges in the indictment, we can affirm that his extremist ideology, combined with access to weapons, has posed a serious potential threat to both the Jewish community and the broader Pittsburgh community. We are grateful for the swift and decisive actions of law enforcement and federal prosecutors and the ongoing collaboration among agencies working to ensure our collective safety."
Here's the U.S. Attorney's press release. Remember that federal prosecution isn't necessarily for keeps.
