YOO

The man known in the area as the “Asian Nazi” on social media has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for federal firearms violations and ordered to surrender to immigration officials for deportation after serving his sentence, according to a news release from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Heon “Hank” Jong Yoo, 25, of Tyler, was found guilty in November on seven counts of false statements made in connection with firearms transactions and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. Yoo is a lawful permanent resident from South Korea, according to information presented in court, the news release states.

Since August, when Yoo began representing himself in his case, he filed hundreds of handwritten motions and

other submissions to appeal his detention, have his seized property returned, have a new standby attorney appointed to him, seek pretrial release, dismiss the case, request bail, claim the U.S. attorneys and law enforcement officials were incompetent and showed malice, and to seek a change of venue for his trial to Houston instead of East Texas.

In a sentencing memorandum, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case asked the court to sentence Yoo to 97 months in prison.

The memorandum said Yoo attempted to buy a gun in 2016 from a licensed dealer in Grandview but was denied upon the required background check.

Yoo appealed this denial through the FBI, but was still denied the gun. Two weeks later Yoo fraudulently obtained a Texas license to carry a handgun that he used to bypass background checks, according to the sentencing memorandum.

“The application included a question about whether he had ever received psychiatric treatment, to which he answered ‘no,'” the memorandum reads. “He was issued a permit on May 24, 2016.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety advised Yoo that his license to carry a handgun was revoked in September 2016 because of his inability to exercise sound judgment with respect to the proper use of a handgun, according to the memorandum.

The memorandum said Yoo went on to use the revoked permit at least two more times to purchase firearms.

Yoo was in possession of about 14 guns when he was arrested, according to the memorandum.

Yoo refutes the government’s claims in his handwritten documents, saying he had only 11 firearms and had them stored in a safe separated from the magazines and ammunition.

He goes on to say that he is a safe gun owner who has never brandished a firearm in an unlawful or threatening manner and that he should be sentenced to 12 months in prison with three years of supervised release and not be deported.

The sentencing memorandum said Yoo’s mental health history includes homicidal ideation, diagnosis of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, a finding of not being psychologically suited for the U.S. Army, treatment and counseling, hospitalizations and involuntary commitments to inpatient facilities.

Yoo gained notoriety on YouTube with videos of him singing “Dixie” while dressed as a Confederate cavalry member and in interviews espousing his views.

Yoo often gives prominent placement to Nazi, “alt-right” and Confederate imagery in his videos. He has become popular for videos ranting against the Black Lives Matter movement and a video titled “Sieg Heil Taylor Swift.” His social media accounts have since been deleted, but the YouTube videos and interviews with “altright” blogs can still be found online.

Yoo was being held without bond in the Gregg County Jail.

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