Posted on by Sam

ID Bulletin: Vaughn D. Schlegel, of North Brookfield MA

[originally published on January 26th, 2024, 11:08AM Eastern via Twitter, 11:09AM via Bluesky]

Vaughn Douglas Schlegel of North Brookfield MA, current candidate for his local Select Board, has been at various turns a member of Patriot Front, the Bay State Active Club, and the Pine Tree Party! A USPS employee, he’s a National Association of Letter Carriers union steward.

He also works for North Brookfield City Hall, in both the Planning Board and Finance Committee, and appears in meeting minutes for both starting in August 2023.

If you’re a MA resident who has concerns about your mail being handled by Vaughn Schlegel, a man involved in several varieties of fascist organizing, the North Brookfield Post Office can be reached at 508-867-8627.

Residents can also contact Richard DiCecca, National Business Agent for Region 14 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, at 617-363-9299, about recently known fascist Vaughn Schlegel.

Before we get into the weeds, I must thank the anonymous tipster & researcher who did most of the heavy lifting with this one. Once again, I am simply the composer of the missive, affirmer of its veracity, and the agent of its delivery.

With deliveries in mind, I’ve also been asked to pass on a message to Schlegel: “YOU’VE GOT MAIL”

For those of us just joining our program, some definitions:

    • Patriot Front is a neo-fascist organization involved in various violent assaults, which spun off from neo-Nazi org Vanguard America in the wake of the violence against leftists and the murder of Heather Heyer at Unite the Right.
    • The Bay State Active Club (or “BSAC” for short) is one of many “active clubs,” a decentralized network of white power/neo-Nazi fight clubs closely tied to the militantly racist Rise Above Movement, Patriot Front, and the neo-Nazi Hammerskins.
    • The Pine Tree Party is an eco-fascist group founded by ex-Breitbart contributor & accelerationist author Mike Mahoney a/k/a “Mike Ma.” Mahoney is a guy who wrote about his fantasies of murdering random civilians at a nightclub and, somehow, made it inane.

Patriot Front spent time in Washington DC and New York City last week. Among them was a cadre of New-England-local Network 7 members, including lifers Brian Harwood and Mark Hayden.

Hayden appears to be the founder of the Bay State Active Club. I went over his history in fascist organizing not long ago, and will be revising his dossier with this ID release.

Schlegel and Hayden appear to be workout buddies, and their gym selfies compose a good amount of BSAC’s propaganda. Schlegel (marked elsewhere as “Secret Jackass No. 1”) dual-carded with Patriot Front, like many local members.

Schlegel likely appeared in Bay State Active Club propaganda materials taken out of Templeton MA in March 2023, which also appeared on Patriot Front channels the next month.

A screenshot of two posts made on the Bay State Active Club channel via Telegram. Dated March 21st 2023, the first post features an image of two men, likely to be Vaughn Schlegel and known Patriot Front member Brian Harwood vandalizing a stone wall with Patriot Front "Victory or Death" graffiti. The man likely to be Schlegel wears a black beanie, blue jeans, a silver watch and wedding band on his left hand, and a black sweater with the words "Active Club XIV" emblazoned on the back in white. The man likely to be Harwood wears a red flannel shirt & a tan baseball cap worn backward with a Patriot Front patch, among other casualwear. The second post features an image and text. The image is a monochrome, bastardized version of the Massachusetts state logo, with the Native American replaced by a stylized pine tree and other modifications. The text, largely irrelevant, is followed by two lightning bolt emojis, harkening to the logo of the Nazi SS paramilitary. A screenshot of a post made on the Patriot Front channel over social media service Telegram. Dated April 2nd, 2023, it features four images of two men, likely to be Vaughn Schlegel and known Patriot Front member Brian Harwood, vandalizing a stone wall with Patriot Front graffiti. They are vandalizing the same wall and wearing the same outfits they wore in the previous Bay State Active Club image. The post accompanying the images reads "@PatriotFrontUpdates: Activists from Network 7 placed stencils in Templeton, Massachusetts."
Posts from the Bay State Active Club and Patriot Front Telegram channels, depicting who are likely to be Schlegel and Harwood vandalizing a stone wall with Patriot Front graffiti in Templeton MA, March 2023.

He also likely joined members of the Pine Tree Party for their standout alongside Patriot Front, opposite SatanCon in Boston MA, during April 2023.

The discovery of Schlegel’s membership in Patriot Front is anticlimactic as all purgatory. One day, before or during March 2023, Patriot Front NW7 and Bay State Active Club member Sal Munafo, a/k/a “Phillip MA,” registered a new Facebook account. Munafo didn’t restrict the privacy settings very hard! Two of his earliest friends on it were Catey Hayden (Mark Hayden’s wife) and Schlegel.

A screenshot of known Patriot Front member Sal Munafo's Facebook profile, specifically the top bar. The top banner image depicts a horizon during sunset in Buzzards Bay MA. Specifically, it is taken somewhere in the water to the west of Taylor Point. Across the water is a landmass, with a wind turbine in the far right midground, the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge in the right background, and the Bourne Bridge partially distorted by the setting sun in the left-of-center distant background. In his profile photo, a grinning Munafo wears a cornflower blue windbreaker and a dark blue Columbia-branded baseball cap, and holds a chicken. A screenshot of known Patriot Front member Sal Munafo's Facebook profile, specifically the Friends frame. The three-by-three block displays nine friends, seven of whom have been concealed by pixelization. The two unobscured friends are Vaughn Schlegel of North Brookfield MA and Catey Hayden of Spencer MA.
Screenshots of Sal Munafo’s Facebook profile. One depicts his banner image, a photograph of Buzzards Bay MA. The other depicts his friends list, which includes Schlegel and Catey Hayden, Mark Haydene’s wife.

Schlegel made some angry posts in Facebook group “North Brookfield Uncensored” about a local “Small Town Pride” event. He’s since deleted them, likely with his attempts toward low-level political office in mind.

A screenshot of a post made on the North Brookfield Uncensored group on social media service Facebook. Dated April 25th, 2023, a post made by Vaughn Schlegel states: "Apparently soft power legal extortion works. Sad to see it. Joys of living in a communist state. What's next to divide the town and enforce a radical left wing agenda here?" A screenshot of a post made on the North Brookfield Uncensored group on social media service Facebook. Dated June 26th, 2023, a post made by Vaughn Schlegel states: "So it looks like it wasn't just Antifa at the common last Saturday but an even worse group. John Brown Gun Club. Nice that these people were invited to our town. Remember to keep this in mind." He includes two URLs, one pointing toward Google search results for the query "John Brown Gun Club," and another toward a Rolling Stone piece on the John Brown Gun Club by Jack Crosbie.
Screenshots of Schlegel’s posts to the “North Brookfield Uncensored” Facebook group, circa 2023.

Browsing a Spencer MA sell/trade group, it seemed that Schlegel had helped Munafo offload a truck well before Munafo re-registered on Facebook. Schlegel also used Facebook Marketplace to sell an overshell frequently worn as uniform dress by members of Patriot Front.

A screenshot of a post made on the Spencer MA Sell and Trade Group on social media service Facebook. Dated October 22nd, 2022, a post made by Vaughn Schlegel advertises a Ford F-150 XLK four-door pick-up truck. There are five visible pictures attached of the exterior and interior of the truck. The text accompanying the ad reads: "SELLING FOR A FRIEND who does not have Facebook (Contact owner Sal at [phone number redacted], lives in Spencer MA), or me here on Messenger. 2010 F-150, 138,000 miles. Slight rust above drivers rear wheel well. Dent in passenger front bumper (see photo). Tire pressure sensor on. Runs fine, no lingering issues. $12,500 or best offer." A screenshot of a post made on the Spencer MA Sell and Trade Group on social media service Facebook. Dated May 25th, 2023, a post made by Vaughn Schlegel advertises a ReFire Gear Men's Special Ops Tactical Jacket in navy blue, for $53. There are a number of promotional photos of the overshell attached to the post, as well as text, which reads: "The softshell jacket is made of 100% polyester soft shell fabric which is waterproof and windproof. It keeps you dry in the rain and snow, block all wind and keep the cold air out. The fleece liner keep you pretty warm in winter. The jacket is design for tactical, huge hood can be roll up, two way zip up to open or close the jacket, hook & loop adjustable wrist cuff; drawstring waist and hood; large patch on both arm for morale..." The remainder is cut off by the "See more" tag.
Screenshots of a sampling of Schlegel’s posts to the “Spencer (MA) Sell And Trade” Facebook group, during 2022 and 2023.

Last year, I accused Mark Hayden of being an active participant in the assault of Charles Murrell III, during Patriot Front’s July ’22 march through Boston MA. Munafo and Catey Hayden, to no surprise, implicitly responded to my accusation by locking down their Facebook profiles for awhile. However, so did Schlegel! This was a mistake on his part; shame he wasn’t aware he was already being monitored at the time.

On ID confirmation: there’s a handful of apparel and accessories that recursively daisy-chain throughout photos of the various groups in which Schlegel’s participated. Note the style of wrist watch and wedding band combo on the left hand, the flask, the Titan Crew baseball hat, the Pit Vipers, the World Gym tank tops (I too purchase my favorite duds in several colors), preferred hat hair styling, and, well, his face.

Series of collages on comparison points between images of Schlegel’s mundane life and his white nationalist/neo-Nazi/ecofascist activism.

Very recently, though, Schlegel decided to throw his hat into the ring for the Vice Chair position on North Brookfield’s Select Board, per his letters to various local publications.

A photo of a story in the Quaboag Current newspaper, posted January 19th 2024 on the "Vaughn Schlegel for Selectman" Facebook page. Titled "Vaughn Schlegel announces candidacy for Selectman," it is a letter written in the first person to the residents of North Brookfield MA from Schlegel, asking them to vote for him. A photo of a story in the Spencer New Leader newspaper, posted January 24th 2024 on the "Vaughn Schlegel for Selectman" Facebook page. Titled "Let's get to work!" and placed in the Letters to the Editor section, it is a letter written in the first person to the residents of North Brookfield MA from Schlegel, asking them to vote for him.
Cellphone photos of Schlegel’s letters to the Quabog Current and Spencer New Leader newspapers, January 2024.

Schlegel, who riffs on Patriot Front’s own color scheme in the banner for his campaign page, is simply the newest addition to a list of New-England-area fascists seeking low-level political office.

 

The top banner from the "Vaughn Schlegel for Selectman" Facebook page. It appears to be an artistic rendition of an idyllic townscape, painted as if viewed from a hot air balloon. Whatever color the artwork had, it has been reduced to a blue monochrome. Super-imposed on the art is the North Brookfield MA town seal, and the text "Schlegel For Selectman," both rendered in a vivid red. A propaganda photo of a Patriot Front poster pasted to a utility box somewhere in the U.S. The image itself has had its hue adjusted, to give it a blue pall. The poster reads "One Nation Against Invasion," with the text in blue and red. The center of the letter "O" in "One" has been stylized to resemble a set of fasces. The image has been intentionally, digitally defaced to read "One group of froggy, irritating chuds live-action roleplaying Against Invasion. Invasion of WHOM, Tommy? Are the pinko commies in the room with you right now?" The "Tommy" in question is Thomas Rousseau, the man at the top of Patriot Front's model of white supremacist pyramid scheme. The URL for the official Patriot Front website is printed at the bottom of the poster; it has been intentionally defaced to obscure it.
Cellphone photos of Schlegel’s letters to the Quabog Curren and Spencer New Leader newspapers, January 2024.

To the folks of North Brookfield MA, please don’t vote for this idiot! I’m pretty sure he has VERY specific ideas on what unity and preservation are, and I don’t think he’s being quite honest about being transparent either!

A status update post, dated January 15th 2024 on the "Vaughn Schlegel for Selectman" Facebook page. It simply reads "Unity, Transparency, Preservation" in white text on a blue background.

It is, as always, VITAL to resist the infiltration of fascists and neo-Nazis into our communties; this includes our local governments! Vaughn Schlegel of North Brookfield is by far not the first fascist to try, and he will not be the last. There is still much work to be done. ∴

Addendum

[originally published on January 30th, 2024, 12:41PM Eastern via Twitter, 12:43PM via Bluesky]

Many New England fascists and neo-Nazi-adjacent figures have had aspirations toward local-level politics in the wake of Trump’s 2016 electoral win, with Vaughn Schlegel simply being the latest. Time for a brief history lesson!

Winning local offices was the original message of Boston Free Speech co-organizer John Rasmussen, who spoke on his goals during the original Boston Free Speech rally back in 2017. Rasmussen was overshadowed by violent felon Kyle Chapman, who preached knocking heads instead of dismantling government from within. Rasmussen is now a member of the Select Board in Perham ME.

Boston Free Speech, after rebranding to Resist Marxism, has had its share of attempted politicians and political candidates: failures Samson Racioppi, John Hugo, and Rob Burke, the disgraced Sue Ianni, and likely others not important enough to remember.

More recently, there’s been Justin Whynot, a Maine-local Moms 4 Liberty candidate whose life seems to have exploded with allegations he’s the heroin-pushing abuser of his at-the-time underage romantic partner.

Even Chris Hood has vowed that members of NSC-131 will get on local politics, with the whole PINE thing (definitely not a way to keep doing neo-Nazi stuff while getting sued by various attorneys general, nope, absolutely operating in good faith them). I’ll note here that it’s becoming increasingly obvious that NSC-131 engages in armed vigilante patrols when it’s not whining in public about Hood’s pet causes (which includes nicotine product Zyn apparently as shown with Hood Molon-Labe-posting about it).

A screenshot of a video post on the Nationalist Social Club's Telegram channel, dated October 26th 2023. The video still depicts the laps of two members sitting in the back of what appears to be an SUV. One of the members is fidgeting with a pistol. The text underneath the video reads: "New England Nationalists patrolling in Lisbon Falls, Maine assisting in the manhunt for Robert Card." A screenshot of a video post on the Chris Hood Official Telegram channel (Hood being the founder of NSC-131), dated January 24th 2024. The video still depicts the laps of two members sitting in the back of what appears to be an SUV. One of the members is fidgeting with a pistol. The other is displaying a container of Zyn nicotine pouches toward the camera. The text underneath the video reads: "Come and take it!"
Screenshots of Telegram channels controlled by NSC-131, depicting members conducting armed vigilante patrols, October 2023 and January 2024.

Whether or not you’re out of New England, it’s important to pay attention to your local races. The local reactionary right, from astroturfed “Moms” to neo-Nazis, see it as a path to political power over their perceived enemies.

If you see something, say something, else someone may slip through. Vaughn Schlegel of North Brookfield MA hopefully won’t get anywhere near elected office.