A Virginia Capitol Police officer was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday after an anti-fascist organization linked him to a white nationalist group.
Sgt. Robert A. Stamm, 36, has been suspended pending an investigation into a possible violation of division policy, police said.
"There is a review policy in place, and we will follow that policy," Col. Anthony S. Pike, the division's chief, said in a statement.
A day earlier, a Richmond-area group called Antifa Seven Hills published a report on Stamm and his "affinity with white national groups," including Asatru Folk Assembly, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In 2015, the FBI stopped two white supremacists from Asatru from trying to spak a "race war" by bombing black churches and synagogues in Virginia.
Among the accusations made against Stamm were his tattoos, which allegedly include a"wolfsangel," which was used by Nazis and has been adapted by Aryan Nation groups. Another is of a Nordic rune considered an "emblem for identifying the followers of Asatru."
Antifa Seven Hills alleged that Stamm also covered up other tattoos with black ink.
The group also shared photos from Stamm's now-deleted Facebook where he posed in his workout room in front of flags like Josef Wirmer's "Resistance Flag" and the "Raven Banner" that have been adopted by white supremacists.
Stamm was promoted to sergeant in November 2018 and has recently been policing the protests against Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam after he admitted to wearing blackface.
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