Ohio city sues neo-Nazis over hate campaign against Haitians

The city of Springfield, Ohio, local officials and residents are suing a neo-Nazi group for allegedly leading an intimidation campaign against people who defended the area’s Haitian community from racist attacks last year, according to court documents reviewed by the Washington Post.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, accuses the white supremacist organization Blood Tribe, its leaders Christopher Pohlhaus and Drake Berentz, and seven unnamed men of conspiring to interfere with the civil rights of Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, Assistant Mayor David Estrop, two city commissioners and four residents.

The group is seeking a judicial order to prevent Blood Tribe and its members from making further threats, as well as punitive damages. Assisted by the Anti-Defamation League and attorneys with experience in litigating against white supremacists, the plaintiffs requested a jury trial.

Springfield, a city of roughly 60,000 people, rose to national attention in the final months of the 2024 presidential campaign as President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance amplified dehumanizing conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants. The Republican leaders alleged without evidence that Haitian people ate neighbors’ pets. The lawsuit does not mention Trump or Vance by name.

The complaint does allege that Blood Tribe called on its supporters to launch a “hit” on Springfield in July, writing in messaging apps that the Haitian immigrants were putting a “significant strain on the good White residents of the city,” according to screenshots included in court documents.

A few weeks later, on Aug. 10, Blood Tribe appeared at Springfield’s Jazz & Blues festival. At least a dozen masked men in red-and-black uniforms waved swastika flags, yelled racial slurs and pointed guns at families, according to the lawsuit.

“Blood Tribe members then bragged on social media about the chaos they had caused, warning that the ‘invasion’ of Springfield by Haitian immigrants was a ‘crime’ that would not ‘go unanswered’ and promising ‘we will definitely be back,’” the lawsuit said.

In the aftermath, residents gathered to speak in defense of Haitian immigrants at city commission meetings. That angered Blood Tribe, which labeled them “enemy combatants” and “traitors,” according to the lawsuit. The complaint accuses Blood Tribe of targeting some of these residents and city officials by issuing at least 33 bomb threats, sending hate mail, posting personal information, and creating fake dating profiles soliciting men to show up at victims’ homes seeking drugs and sex.

Blood Tribe did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Post was unable to reach Pohlhaus or Berentz.

Blood Tribe posted a message allegedly from Pohlhaus on the social platform Gab calling the lawsuit’s allegations “laughable and impossible to prove.” The statement also denied the claim that Blood Tribe members pointed firearms at families, saying that the organization would have taken those men “out back and beat them” before removing them as members. The Post has not confirmed the author is Pohlhaus.

In another post on Gab, Blood Tribe blamed Springfield officials for using the group as “an easy scapegoat for their own weakness” and used antisemitic language to refer to the ADL. Blood Tribe said it was “not the cause or source” of Springfield’s problems.

Blood Tribe’s persistent bomb threats targeted hospitals, schools and businesses for several weeks, according to the lawsuit. On Sept. 12, two days after Trump said during a presidential debate that immigrants were eating pets, Springfield evacuated City Hall after it received a bomb threat naming city commissioners Tracey Tackett and Krystal Brown and others, stating, “I will kill you. I know where you live.”

“And even though the bomb threats proved to be false alarms, they were frightening and disruptive and required the City of Springfield to expend extensive resources to assure the safety of the City and its residents,” the lawsuit said.

The threats also included the home addresses of Rue and Estrop, who were left messages that they would “die a traitor’s death,” according to the lawsuit.

Berentz and about a dozen members stood outside Rue’s house on Sept. 28, according to the lawsuit. Inside, Rue had a shotgun loaded and positioned by his front door “in case he needed to protect his family,” the complaint said. On another unspecified date, according to court documents, Blood Tribe returned to Rue’s house with a Haitian man and claimed he “needs a place to stay.”

Residents Taylor Flora, Jessica Shafer, Casey Rollins and Randall Comer were also subjected to death threats and harassment for supporting Haitian immigrants, the lawsuit said. On one occasion, Flora allegedly received a package designed to look like a bomb, with a taunting note that read, “XOXO, Blood Tribe.”

Before the alleged coordinated attacks, Blood Tribe wrote in messages that it had been monitoring Springfield since 2023, when 11-year-old Aiden Clark died in a car crash caused by Hermanio Joseph, a 36-year-old from Haiti. Aiden’s father, Nathan Clark, has since publicly denounced hate and political gain in his son’s name.

The lawsuit alleges Pohlhaus “gleefully took credit” when xenophobic conspiracy theories about the town’s Haitian community reached a national level last year. Pohlhaus wrote on social media that Blood Tribe had “pushed Springfield into the public consciousness,” according to court documents.

“Other Blood Tribe members agreed,” the lawsuit said, “adding that ‘this is what real power looks like.’”