Data Leak Reveals Tampa Police Officer’s Stepson Is Member of Neo-Nazi Group | Tampa Bay News | Tampa

On January 21, the collective of journalists unicorn riot leaked archived conversations from the white supremacist organization Patriot Front, a rebrand of neo-Nazi group Vanguard America, which attended the violent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville.

According to the discussions, a member and organizer of the Patriot Front, Calvin Stow-Ortiz, appears under the name “Arthur FL”, and is a student at Florida State University, as well as the son-in-law of the officer of the department of Tampa police, Antonio Ortiz-Saldana.

The Tampa Police Department has confirmed to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that

Ortiz-Saldana is currently employed, but did not say whether they were aware of his stepson’s involvement in the hate group.

“The Tampa Police Department does not tolerate any organization or group that believes in a hateful ideology. Ortiz-Saldana is a respected detective with no significant disciplinary history,” said Jamel Lanee, Public Safety Information Coordinator.

CL also left a voicemail for Ortiz-Saldana and will update that message if he replies.

Stow-Ortiz was easily identified in chats after essentially doxxing himself through the metadata of a Word document. The document was sent to Patriot Front leader Thomas Rousseau and described the lyrics of a “marching song” that Stow-Ortiz hoped the group would adopt at future rallies.

In other threads, the “Arthur FL” account claimed to have participated in and helped organize several Patriot Front events, including a race in Georgia where “we hit Bainbridge, Thomasville, then Valdostawith propaganda, and a November 20 training session in Tallahassee to prepare for December 4”reclaim america“march to Washington DC, where he was later assigned to”shield duty.”

The messages also show that Stow-Ortiz was hoping to compete in the next banner dropsand said he planned to “absolutely destroying the Tampa-St. Pete neighborhood,with the group’s neo-Nazi propaganda.

The posts also show that Stow-Ortiz hoped to participate in future banner drops and said he planned to “absolutely destroy the Tampa-St. Pete area,” with the group’s neo-Nazi propaganda.

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A conversation reveals that the hate group has renovated a house in the Tampa area where several members currently live. Although it’s unclear how much Stow-Ortiz was involved in this particular project.

The authenticity of Unicorn Riot cats has been verified by Rousseau during a podcast hosted by neo-Nazi Joseph Jordan January 28. On the show, Rousseau downplayed the leaks and took responsibility for exposing the identities of its members.

“They do these things to inspire paranoia and hysteria, don’t they. They want you to be scared,” Rousseau said.

According to Southern Poverty Law CenterPatriot Front often calls for the formation of an ethno-white state and “is also explicit in its exclusion of people of color from its conception of pan-European identity”.

Over the past year, members of the Patriot Front have committed multiple acts of racist vandalism. In June 2021, Patriot Front vandalized a Statue of George Floyd in Brooklyn, New York, and in October destroyed a Mural by Arthur Ashe in Richmond, Virginia.

Florida has seen a recent increase in hate group activity. Last weekend, the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group whose leader is based in Florida, staged multiple protests in Orlando, which quickly sparked outrage among local leaders. However, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did not directly condemn the hate group, instead calling them “a few morons.”

On top of that, yesterday six historically black universities across the country were evacuated, including Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, after a neo-Nazi group called in bomb threats.

Massive leak exposes neo-Nazi group’s Patriotic Front from unicorn riot to Vimeo.