KNOXVILLE, TN (WOKI) – On May 7, 2025, a federal grand jury in Knoxville, Tennessee,
returned an indictment charging Regan Darby Prater, 27, of Tullahoma, Tennessee, with arson for
firebombing the Highlander Center, a nonprofit research and education center in New Market,
Tennessee, and with carrying an explosive device during the commission of the arson. Prater
appeared in court today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jill E. McCook and entered a plea of not
guilty to the charges in the indictment.

He was detained pending trial, which has been set for July 15, 2025, before the Honorable Thomas A. Varlan, United States District Judge, in United States District Court, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

According to court documents, on March 29, 2019, Prater used an explosive to firebomb
the Highlander Center’s administrative building, resulting in a fire that consumed the entire
structure. Court documents also allege that Prater was inspired by the March 15, 2019, mass
shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, and left a symbol of the Iron Guard, a World War II-era
Romanian Nazi organization, spray-painted in the Highlander Center’s parking lot. The same
symbol appeared on the Christchurch gunman’s rifle as he livestreamed his attacks.

If convicted, Prater faces a minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty
of 20 years in prison on the arson charge, and an additional 10 years in prison on the explosive
charge.

Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights
Division; Francis M. Hamilton III, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee; and Special
Agent in Charge Joseph E. Carrico of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Nashville Field
Office made the announcement.

The FBI Knoxville Resident Agency investigated the case, with assistance from the
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey T. Arrowood and Anne-Marie Svolto of the Eastern
District of Tennessee and Trial Attorneys Kyle Boynton and Katherine McCallister of the Civil
Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case.

Members of the public are reminded that an indictment constitutes only charges and that
every person is presumed innocent until their guilt has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.