After last year’s deadly Hill Country flood took at least 135 lives over the July 4 weekend, volunteers flocked to the area to support disaster relief efforts. Among those volunteers were members of Patriot Front, a neo-Nazi organization that is one of the nation’s largest and most influential white nationalist groups.
On July 23, Patriot Front posted multiple photos on their official Telegram account showing about two dozen of what the group described as their “activists” doing disaster relief work in Kerr County. The faces of the participants were blurred other than that of the group’s North Texas-based leader, Thomas Rousseau, and a well-known podcaster and Holocaust denier. In a video also posted to Telegram two weeks prior, Rousseau described the intent of the mission, which appeared to be part of a broader strategy that extremism experts say is meant to launder the group’s image and recruit new members.
“Patriot Front is here in Central Texas responding to the flooding,” Rousseau said in the video. “We are prioritizing the interests of our people in this mission. While every other race and religion across the country and the world, for that matter, can establish charities, communities, and institutions that explicitly exist by and for their own, it is regrettably a revolutionary act to do so for Americans, that unique nation, descendant of the European peoples who discovered, settled, and founded America.”
While the neo-Nazi group shielded the identity of most of its members, a photo posted on the Facebook page of the River Inn Resort in Hunt, where disaster relief was coordinated, was unblurred. It shows roughly 20 people standing in a semi-circle, including Rousseau and some others previously identified by police or media as Patriot Front members, with many wearing shirts and hats that bear Patriot Front insignia. (Scott Towery, the general manager of the River Inn Resort, told the Texas Observer he was “shocked” to hear of the volunteers’ white supremacist affiliation and said “River Inn has zero affiliation with the group.”)
Patriot Front’s participation in the relief effort was previously reported by The Guardian, but the River Inn photo helps reveal the identities of additional participants—and contains evidence that has led the Observer to identify a network of North Texas businesses with ties to Patriot Front.
Encroaching in from the left side of the River Inn photo is a pickup bearing the logo and contact information of Veteran Brothers Roofing & Restoration, a Fort Worth-based contractor. Near the photo’s center, a man resembling the company’s owner, Cameron Schronk, stands beside a known Patriot Front member and behind Jake Shields, the Holocaust-denying podcaster whose shirt reads “AIPAC Is a Foreign Agent.” Schronk confirmed to the Observer participating in the disaster relief using his pickup; facial recognition software matches other photos of him to the River Inn photo; and a source, who requested anonymity to avoid possible retaliation but has reason to be able to identify Schronk at the time of the photo, identified the man as Schronk—but Schronk denied appearing in the photo. Schronk also denied being a member of Patriot Front; at least two people who currently work or worked for his company have been identified as Patriot Front members in court documents or news reports.
Through an analysis of business records, social media, and publicly available information, in addition to interviews and in-person observation, the Observer has identified Veteran Brothers Roofing & Restoration as one of four businesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that are operated either by members of Patriot Front or individuals with multiple connections to Patriot Front. These businesses do roofing, home construction, and junk removal work across several counties.
None appear to feature Nazi imagery or messaging in their public-facing websites or social media. But a 2020 internal Patriot Front document and interviews with experts suggest that the neo-Nazi group is engaged in a strategy to establish an independent ecosystem of businesses that can employ Patriot Front members and insulate them from consequences if their involvement in the group is exposed. In the previously unpublished “Tactics and Strategy” document, which the Observer obtained through researcher Tristan Lee’s past undercover infiltration of the group, Patriot Front internally advocated the creation of “an almost exclusive economy which can greaten the prosperity of the collective and make it increasingly impervious to outside attacks.” This strategy is also apparent in a trove of internal Patriot Front communications published by Unicorn Riot: One chat room, called “#positive-investing,” included a meeting about “The Core Factors of Starting & Running a Business” hosted by a Patriot Front regional leader.
“When people find out you’re a racist or a white nationalist, you tend to lose your job pretty easily,” said Scott Ernest, a former white nationalist who now runs the Center for Extremism Prevention and Intervention. “The idea behind their self-sustaining economy, it’s just common sense. If you build your own business, you don’t have to worry about people getting you fired.”
In addition to Veteran Brothers Roofing & Restoration, the Observer has identified: Grand Pine Developments, which holds the permit for what evidence indicates is a white nationalist fight club’s private gym and whose owner, Josiah Buster, participated in the relief effort, works or worked for Veteran Brothers, and was arrested in Patriot Front uniform in 2022; Charvold Homes, whose owner, John Verdier, participated in the flood relief efforts and organized a recent birthday party for neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke’s birthday in collaboration with Patriot Front; and Blue Collar Tree and Junk Removal, whose owner, Kyle Otey, participated in the relief efforts, has a Telegram account that uses Patriot Front iconography in its profile photo, and has an X account that follows several major white nationalist groups and influencers.
On Google Maps or other review websites, all four of the businesses identified by the Observer have given positive reviews to or received positive reviews from one of the other three companies or individuals who work for or run the companies. These reviews also indicate that at least three of the four companies have done business with at least one of the three other companies or associated individuals.
Buster responded to the Observer’s questions but did not confirm or deny involvement with Patriot Front. Verdier stated that he is a “pro-White libertarian” and a friend of Rousseau and other Patriot Front members but is not a member himself because he is “too old.” Otey responded to the Observer’s questions but did not confirm or deny involvement with Patriot Front.
Veteran Brothers Roofing & Restoration
On its website, Veteran Brothers Roofing & Restoration, which incorporated in 2021, describes itself as “the most trusted roofers in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area,” touts a five-star rating on Google where the company has over 100 reviews, and states that its mission is centered around “creating opportunities for disabled veterans.”
Schronk, who participated in the flood relief efforts, is the only person listed on the company’s current Secretary of State filing. He denied that his company is part of a network to support Patriot Front members. “I’m not in Patriot Front,” Schronk told the Observer in a phone interview. “Politically, I’m putting all that aside, my personal views and how I live my life. … As far as my guys’ political views, I have nothing to do with that. And to be quite frank, whether they were Antifa, BLM, or Patriot Front, it doesn’t matter.”
He told the Observer his team is 30- to 40-percent veterans and the company makes less than $5 million a year in revenue. Schronk did not answer questions about how he and his company pickup came to appear alongside Patriot Front volunteers in Hunt. “I’m not going to get into details on how I got into my truck and drove to a disaster area,” Schronk said. “It is 100-percent a coincidence.”
When asked if he drove there with his employees, including Kieran Morris—who appeared in a staff photo (recently removed after the Observer’s inquiries) on the Veteran Brothers website, has been previously arrested in Patriot Front uniform, and appears in the River Inn photo in a Patriot Front shirt—Schronk ended the conversation, saying he had a meeting to get to.
In a text message, Schronk denied appearing in the River Inn photo and in another photo from the flood relief posted on his Instagram account. “No but I wish I had that good of a jawline. Good luck on your endeavors,” he wrote.
The anonymous source also identified Schronk as a man—wearing the same clothes and accessories as the one in the River Inn photo—who appears in a partially blurred photo posted to the Patriot Front Telegram. Schronk denied this as well.
Veteran Brothers’ business address previously corresponded to a house owned by Josiah Buster, who was arrested for conspiring to riot at a 2022 Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, alongside 30 others, including Rousseau and Morris. The group was photographed wearing Patriot Front uniforms and was identified as consisting of Patriot Front members by law enforcement and media. Buster ultimately pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of failure to obtain a parade permit along with a handful of other defendants.
Buster’s involvement in Veteran Brothers was first reported by Range Media. Following his 2022 arrest, Buster’s name and bio, where he was listed as the operations manager, were removed from the company’s website. But he is shown in a Veteran Brothers video posted in April 2024, mentioned by name and sitting at a desk in the company’s new office. Buster also appears in the River Inn photo. Schronk refused to comment on whether Buster is still employed at Veteran Brothers.
Morris is frequently shown in Veteran Brothers videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, often wearing a shirt showing his name as “Patrick” (the anglicized version of Morris’ Irish middle name “Padraig” and his reported Patriot Front alias) and often giving sales advice. Morris did not respond to requests for comment.
Joshua Berkau appeared in the staff photo on the Veteran Brothers website and is in at least 20 videos posted to the Veteran Brothers TikTok account, inspecting roofs, talking to homeowners, and giving advice. Berkau was identified in a 2024 police report as having rented a pickup used to transport Patriot Front demonstrators in Charleston, West Virginia. Berkau was also photographed next to Rousseau in a group including Patriot Front members at the white nationalist American Renaissance conference held in November 2024 in Tennessee—and with Morris and Buster in a picture posted to the Telegram channel of Devotion Jiu-Jitsu, a martial arts club that, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), is associated with the white nationalist group Wolves of Vinland. He did not respond to requests for comment.
The River Inn photo also included: Otey, the operator of Blue Collar Tree & Junk Removal; Graham Whitson, another Coeur D’Alene arrestee whom the SPLC has described as part of Rousseau’s inner circle; Rhett Loftis, whom the Observer previously identified as the leader of a white nationalist fight club that, according to the SPLC, reports to Morris and Rousseau; and Tristan Rettke, who has participated in a Russian street fighting club that expanded to the United States with the help of Patriot Front, according to The Guardian. Otey and Loftis confirmed participating in the relief but did not confirm appearing in the photo; Rettke did not respond, and the Observer was unable to reach Whitson.
Veteran Brothers has also hired attorney Jason Lee Van Dyke, a self-described fascist who’s represented Patriot Front members, Loftis, and the leader of the Aryan Freedom Network. Van Dyke has represented Veteran Brothers in two cases related to credit and debt collection. Van Dyke’s ties to Patriot Front also go beyond the courtroom: He’s hosted members of the group at his home and participated in their private chat room under a pseudonym, as previously reported by the Observer, and has trained Patriot Front members to fight, according to the SPLC.
“My representation of them has nothing to do with Patriot Front,” Van Dyke told the Observer. “If they or their employees are involved, that’s none of my business.”
Grand Pine Developments
In 2023, Buster founded Grand Pine Developments using the address of a Parker County house he owns. The company has no social media presence or website indicating what it does, and inquiries sent to the Grand Pines email address did not receive a response. But publicly available information provides clues.
A user named Grand Pines Developments posted reviews of Veteran Brothers on Google Maps and on a roofing company website, thanking them for help with appraisal arbitration related to an insurance claim on a rental property. Schronk said he did not know whether his company had done work with Grand Pines.
The Observer found one local permit under the Grand Pines Developments LLC name—for a “private athletic training” facility in North Richland Hills.
The address on the April 2025 permit corresponds to a small suite in a commercial building complex. According to analysis of publicly available documents, images, videos, and an in-person visit, the Observer has identified the location as a private gym used by the Lone Star Active Club, part of a network identified by the SPLC of white nationalist fight clubs controlled by Patriot Front, and as the location for an August 2025 interview a YouTube influencer conducted with Rousseau.The molding and tiles shown in a picture posted to X by an influencer who interviewed Rousseau and trained at a gym also match those in a picture taken by the Observer. The Lone Star Active Club has posted a video on Telegram showing a slightly blurred tree outside the garage door that matches a tree in the same location as confirmed by Google Street View and an Observer in-person visit. An electrical box configuration shown in a Patriot Front video also matches a photo from a business that previously occupied that address.
Prior to Grand Pines Development’s acquisition of the permit for the private gym facility, the Lone Star Active Club posted photos of participants training in outdoor locations or private homes. Now, the group regularly posts videos from inside a gym, including ones that show Van Dyke, the lawyer.
According to Bellingcat’s Telegram Phone Number Checker, which identifies Telegram usernames associated with phone numbers, Buster’s phone number is connected to the Telegram username “swolercaust,” which has made a post featuring Morris, the Patriot Front member who works or worked for Veteran Brothers, and a Lone Star Active Club flag during the relief effort in Hunt. Buster responded to Observer messages sent to the swolercaust Telegram account. When asked if he is an active member of Patriot Front, Buster responded: “Not sure what you mean but I am active in general, I do a lot of push ups and sit ups.” When asked what sort of work Grand Pines Development does, Buster responded: “Grand Pines Developments is a growth solutions entity. … Through fun alignment and methods, we define what it means to grow.”
On October 23, Morris posted a photo on Telegram of a group at the Lone Star Active Club gym in which Buster appears.
When told the Observer had photos of him alongside Patriot Front members at the relief effort and inside the Lone Star Active Club gym, Buster responded: “Sincerest congratulations.”
Charvold Homes
Charvold Homes is a Weatherford-based construction company that advertises itself as a custom home builder, remodeler, and restorer.
The company incorporated in 2019, according to Texas Secretary of State filings, but it was started years prior according to its website and its founder John Verdier. Via text, Verdier told the Observer that Adolf Hitler has “definitely been made into a boogie man.” Verdier marched at the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, carrying a torch alongside well-known neo-Nazi “Azzmador,” as reported by then-Fort Worth Star Telegram reporter Kaley Johnson. The year prior, Verdier was named in a guest list for an event at Texas A&M featuring white nationalist Richard Spencer. Verdier confirmed his attendance at both in a phone interview with the Observer.
In 2020, when protesters called to remove a Confederate statue in Weatherford, Verdier told the Star Telegram: “I’m not a white supremacist. I just want freedom to live on my own. I want to live in a neighborhood with people like me, I just want to be able to send my kids to school with other kids of European ancestry.”
On April 5, 2025, Verdier’s public Venmo account made a payment for the “remaining balance on Dr. Duke Birthday Cake.” That same month, Patriot Front’s North Texas chapter celebrated the birthday of David Duke, a notorious neo-Nazi and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, with a cake, per photos posted to the Patriot Front Telegram.
“I planned his birthday,” Verdier told the Observer, and he confirmed that it was a group effort with Patriot Front. Verdier also said he knows Patriot Front members but that he is not a member due to his age. “I’ve known Thomas [Rousseau] for a long time, so of course I’m going to know the guys. But I’m too old.”
In two photos from the flood relief effort that Towery, the resort manager, shared with the Observer, Verdier appears carrying a chainsaw near Rousseau.
Verdier left a review in 2024 for Veteran Brothers, stating that the company “is the best” and the “only guys to call when you need it.” That same year, Veteran Brothers reviewed Charvold Homes, stating that “Working with John has been a super easy process” and that his work is “superior to contractors we have worked with in the past.” And a Google account belonging to Buster also left Charvold a review, describing the company as an “excellent property manager!”
Verdier denied that his company is part of a network that benefits Patriot Front members, but he said: “I have given some Pro-White businesses jobs at some of my personal houses.” Asked to clarify whether Veteran Brothers, which he said he hired to work on homes he personally owns, was one of those businesses, he said: “Veteran Brothers as a business is not Pro-White but Pro-Whites work there.”
Commenting more generally on support between business owners, he said: “As Whites move into a minority status which we are in TX we will engage in the same racial preference tactics as non-whites.”
Morris posted a photo on October 22 of a group in the Lone Star Active Club gym that includes a man resembling Verdier whose face is blurred. Verdier confirmed it was him in a text to the Observer.
“That’s me,” he said. “I told them they don’t have to blur me.”
Blue Collar Tree and Junk Removal
According to its website, Blue Collar Tree and Junk Removal is a fully licensed and insured company that offers tree removal, trimming, stump grinding, and junk removal in Parker and Tarrant counties. According to its Facebook page, it first began operating in 2023.
The website does not list an owner, and no company named Blue Collar Tree and Junk Removal is registered in the Texas Secretary of State’s database. But the Facebook page for the company links to the X and LinkedIn pages of a man named Kyle Otey and lists an email that includes the name of another company—Absolute Pressure Pros—which is registered in Otey’s name in Aledo.
The Facebook and website also list a phone number that Bellingcat’s Telegram Phone Number Checker links to a Telegram account with the username “troy_pf.” The account uses a profile picture that contains the distinctive Patriot Front fasces design and includes an image of a boxer that is also seen on a banner in the background of a picture uploaded to the Lone Star Active Club’s Telegram channel.
Otey’s X profile follows several white nationalist accounts, including: Return to the Land, an Arkansas group that wants to build a white ethnostate; Billy Roper, the founder of the Shield Wall Network, another promoter of a white ethnostate; and Red Ice, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has described as “a white nationalist propaganda outfit.”
Starting in early August, Google accounts associated with Morris, Whitson, and Loftis began leaving positive reviews for Blue Collar Tree and Junk Removal, praising Otey’s work. “Very good service, Kyle was professional and respectful,” Loftis wrote.
A Google Maps account named Kyle Otey also left a review for Charvold Homes in May 2025 saying, “John is great! Highly recommend charvold homes!”
In the River Inn photo, Otey stands behind Rousseau. “I did help clean up after the flood,” Otey wrote to the Observer in a text message. “You got me. … How long do you think the prison sentence will be for volunteering to do disaster relief for free?”
In response to detailed questions about Patriot Front and the Lone Star Active Club, Otey responded: “Here’s a picture you can use, you parasite,” accompanied by a photo of himself and Verdier in martial arts uniforms. Asked if he attended the David Duke birthday party that Verdier organized, Otey said: “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.” Then asked if his company is part of a network of businesses to support white nationalists, Otey responded: “I have a question for you, are you a homosexual?”
Presented with the evidence assembled for this story, four extremism experts said that the businesses could serve to economically insulate North Texas Patriot Front members and allies, and that their behavior resembles that of mutual support networks long deployed by white supremacists.
“This is a long-standing tactic that members of the White Power Movement have tried to implement since the emergence of the movement itself in the early 1970s,” Jeff Tischauser, a researcher at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told the Observer. “There have been at least 100 Patriot Front members publicly identified; this has resulted in many of them losing employment, at least one member getting booted from the military, and one being kicked out by their mom. Rousseau wants to soften the social consequences that result when his racist followers are publicly identified.”
The Observer was unable to reach Rousseau for comment.
The strategy of creating an independent economic ecosystem has roots in the broader white nationalist movement. Ernest, the former white nationalist-turned-deradicalization expert, recalled a similar approach being used while he was a member of Pioneer Little Europe, which seeks to establish white-separatist communities in the United States. “You create businesses that other people could work at, or other people could support. And even if you didn’t create a business yourself, you would find jobs for other people moving into the area,” he said.
According to Luke Baumgartner, a research fellow with George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, the development of a network of non-ideological businesses—and their practice of providing each other positive reviews online—would serve Patriot Front’s goals in a number of ways.
“If Patriot Front members are somehow financially benefiting from what appear to be legitimate businesses,” he said, “then that opens up the door for them to potentially utilize some of those funds for their Patriot Front activities.”
If the ideological commitments of those operating these companies are concealed, then, customers may be unwittingly providing financial support to active neo-Nazis.
“They’re so careful with their optics that I think it’s on purpose,” said Morgan Moon, associate director of investigative research at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. “But it’s worth communities being able to know if they’re funding a business that is affiliated with or part of an organized extremist group.”
Wiley D. Cope contributed research.
Editor’s Note: Exiting extremism can be a difficult process. If you or someone you love is caught up in hate or extremist politics, there are free resources that can help. Life After Hate and Parents for Peace are two non-profit organizations that operate help lines and provide support to help individuals and families recover from extremism.
