Someone keeps posting racist neo-Nazi stickers on the Democratic office in Bradenton
Local business owners say they fear for their safety after a person was caught on video spreading neo-Nazi messaging at a shopping plaza on Cortez Road.
Videos taken by Ring security cameras show a man entering the Orange Blossom Plaza and placing stickers on storefront windows early in the morning, around 6:30 a.m.
The stickers include a link to a website created by a self-proclaimed “pro-white racial club.”
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is looking into the incident, which plaza residents say began earlier this year. A similar situation happened in 2019 when someone shared fliers linking to the same website in Bradenton’s Village of the Arts neighborhood.
Reached for comment Thursday evening, Randy Warren, the sheriff’s office’s public information officer said the sheriff’s office urges residents to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement.
“We want to encourage people to let us know when they see things like that,” said Warren. “It’s certainly disturbing and we want to trace down where it’s coming from.”
The group’s website, which as of Wednesday morning is no longer online, makes reference to a racist ideology “dedicated to the advancement and preservation” of the white race. The Bradenton Herald reviewed an archived copy of the website.
“The club appears to produce Nazi-esque apparel and draws inspiration from a (deceased) neo-Nazi,” a sheriff’s office deputy wrote in an investigation synopsis.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, group is classified as extremist.
The investigation began in March after Evelyn Almodóvar, who serves as chair of the Manatee County Democratic Party, reported the suspicious incident to the sheriff’s office. The local Democrat office is based in the plaza.
Bradenton plaza receives neo-Nazi stickers
“For the past week, stickers have been placed on our windows at the Democratic Party Office. The culprit is promoting white nationalist hate propaganda,” Almodóvar wrote in a sworn affidavit.
Other minority-owned businesses in the plaza received the stickers too — a hair salon, Mexican restaurant and seafood restaurant.
Ashley Briggs, the salon owner, said earlier this year the suspect was placing them every two days.
“It was pretty consistent. It was the same sticker,” said Briggs, who has operated her salon in the plaza for six years. “At one point, they put so many stickers on the Democrats’ office that it was high up and hard to reach.”
According to an incident report, the sheriff’s office is treating the situation as a “suspicious incident” and not an established crime. However, business owners who spoke with the Bradenton Herald said they now fear for their safety after repeatedly receiving the neo-Nazi messaging.
“I guess it’s not a malicious hate crime, but it’s the start. They want you to know they’re not wrong for being racist,” said Briggs.
‘A form of vandalism’
At a seafood restaurant in the plaza, the stickers have also been posted. An employee said they were found as recently as last week. The suspect, she said, has posted them on the front door, patio TVs, the restaurant’s mailbox and more.
“It’s a form of vandalism,” the employee said.
The stickers have impacted the restaurant’s reputation, as well. Because the stickers get posted all around the standalone building, customers that discover them have been offended and confronted staff members about the messaging.
“You don’t put a sticker on a window. This is a business,” said Claude Anastase, assistant manager of the restaurant. “We had to post a sign asking them not to post the stickers anymore, and they kept posting them anyway.”
Almodóvar, who recently took over as the leader for local Democrats, said she believes the stickers are a targeted attack against minority-owned businesses. Almodóvar is of Hispanic descent, and the salon is a Black-owned business.
“It’s targeted, for sure. It’s a direct result of the political climate,” Almodóvar said. “It’s just something we don’t want in our community.”
Warren said the sheriff’s office takes report seriously but that cases can hit dead ends for different reasons.
“We have to find evidence of a crime. Often it’s very disturbing and mean-spirited but doesn’t rise to the level of a hate crime. Still we want to know about it,” said Warren. “We encourage people to tell us when they find offensive material or actions so we can investigate these incidents.”
Political violence on the rise in USA
Recent studies have reported a dramatic increase in the number of political violence in the United States. The Global Terrorist Database, which has been tracking incidents since the 1970s, reports that violent far-right terrorist activity began to rise in 2013 and then skyrocketed in 2016, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Similarly, the Journal of Democracy reports that the false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen led to an increase in political violence.
At her hair salon, Briggs has also noticed an uptick in negative political rhetoric. She said most weekends, people drive by the local Democrat headquarters just to make obscene gestures or scream in front of the building.
“A lot of people drive by and make videos or stick up birds,” said Briggs. “It’s a lot of young guys showing off for social media and screaming obscenities in front of the office.”
“If I work on a Sunday, it never fails,” she added.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies issued a “situational awareness bulletin” in March.
A person of interest has been named in the case, but it is unclear if he has been interviewed by law enforcement officials.
This story was originally published July 14, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
