NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A man named Regan Prater, who has connections to white supremacist groups, admitted in court on Monday to setting a fire that destroyed part of a well-known social justice center in Tennessee. This incident has drawn significant attention due to its historical importance and the serious implications of hate-driven violence.
Prater also confessed to trying to help a foreign terrorist group, Hezbollah, by providing them with personal information about individuals connected to the Israeli government. This was revealed in legal documents filed back in February.
The sentencing for Prater is set for September 9 in Knoxville, Tennessee. His public defender has not responded to requests for comments about the case.
Prater was arrested in April 2025 for the arson at the Highlander Research and Education Center, which is located in New Market. This arrest happened more than six years after the fire took place in March 2019, which caused over $1.2 million in damages, according to prosecutors.
Evidence presented in court linked Prater to the arson through his activity in group chats with white supremacists. A witness shared screenshots with the FBI showing Prater discussing the fire. In a message, he used the name ‘Rooster’ and initially denied involvement but later detailed the method of setting the fire with a “sparkler bomb and some Napalm.”
After the fire, a white-power symbol, described as a “triple cross,” was found spray-painted on the pavement nearby. This symbol has ties to other hate crimes, including a tragic shooting in New Zealand that killed 51 people at mosques in March 2019, just weeks before the Highlander fire.
Originally, Prater was charged with arson in 2025, but the court later replaced that charge with a new indictment that included the connection to Hezbollah. As part of a plea agreement, the government suggested a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Previously, Prater was sentenced to five years in federal prison for another arson incident in 2019, where he set fire to an adult store in East Tennessee. Evidence included a cellphone belonging to him that contained a video of the fire being started.
The Highlander Research and Education Center is significant in American history, having been a site for civil rights training. Notable figures such as Rosa Parks and John Lewis received training there. Parks credited Highlander with inspiring her activism, especially after attending a workshop on integration in 1955.
The fire at Highlander occurred in the early hours of March 29, 2019. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the blaze destroyed decades’ worth of important documents, including artifacts and materials related to the Civil Rights Movement, which can never be replaced.
