The 18-year-old man who federal authorities say expressed a desire to attack African-Americans and who is accused of telling people to vandalize Midwest synagogues, serves as a volunteer firefighter in his hometown in South Jersey.

Richard Tobin has been a Brooklawn volunteer firefighter for less than a year, chief John McKinney said Monday. McKinney said he was unaware of the allegations against Tobin until he was contacted by a reporter.

Tobin was originally part of the fire company’s “Fire Service Explorers” program, a Boy Scouts of America program that introduces adolescents to a firefighting career, the chief said. A March 2018 Brooklawn fire company Facebook post congratulated Tobin on completing the Camden County College Fire Academy Junior Firefighter course.

McKinney said there was never an issue with Tobin. The chief declined further comment. On Monday, Tobin was still listed on the borough’s website as a member of the exploring program, but his name was removed by Tuesday.

Tobin was arrested last week on one count of conspiring with a hate group against the rights of minorities, including Jewish people, according to a criminal complaint.

Federal authorities described Tobin as a white supremacist who is “triggered by the state of the country.”

Authorities said they became aware of Tobin as they investigated the vandalism of two Midwest synagogues in September. According to the criminal complaint, investigators discovered that Tobin — from his Brooklawn home — allegedly directed members of a “white racially motivated violent extremist group" to vandalize minority-owned properties through online platforms and encrypted messaging applications. The complaint did not identify the group but described it as a far-right group that has “proclaimed war against minority communities within the United States and abroad."

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Tobin was acting as a member of The Base, a neo-Nazi group that “trains members in violence at ‘hate camps,’” according to The Daily Beast.

Tobin allegedly directed the group’s "Great Lakes Cell” from his New Jersey home, ordering an “Operation Kristallnacht,” a reference to Nov. 9 to 10, 1938, when Nazis in Germany burned down synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes and businesses, and killed about 100 Jewish people.

“Tag the s--t" out of the synagogues, he told them, according to the criminal complaint. “If there’s a window that wants to be broken, don’t be shy.”

Kristallnacht is known as the “Night of Broken Glass.”

News reports said the attacks targeted Temple Jacob in Hancock, Michigan and Beth Israel Sinai Congregation in Racine, Wisconsin. They were vandalized on two days in September this year, when Tobin was dealing with people online, authorities said.

David Holden, president of the congregation in Hancock, on Michigan’s mostly rural Upper Peninsula, said the community response gave him “an unexpected renewal of faith.”

The historic building was targeted right before a local multicultural parade, and the synagogue was visible on that route, he said.

He was scrubbing the walls by himself when nearby residents, who were not members of the synagogue, arrived in a couple of pickup trucks. They had heard of the damage while buying paint at Sherwin-Williams, Holden said. The walls were cleaned quickly with their help.

It showed him “this vandalism is not what this community is about,” he told NJ Advance Media Monday.

"I’m pleased with the work of local law enforcement as well as the FBI,” he added.

No one at the Wisconsin house of worship was available for comment. Beth Israel was powerwashed to remove the graffiti and was seeking donations to increase security at the building, according to a statement posted online.

“We are happy to say the building is cleaned of this graffiti, by the public," the statement read. "Now our small congregation needs to raise funds for greater security on the outside of the building.”

The vandalism led to hundreds of people reaching out to the synagogue to offer messages of support, according to The Journal Times.

“If this person’s plan was to spread hate and fear, he missed,” Joyce Placzkowski, the synagogue’s president, told the local newspaper. “Instead he angered with his actions. We found out how strong our neighbors and friends are.”

The criminal complaint does not mention if anyone has been charged for the vandalism of the synagogues.

When federal authorities interviewed Tobin in October, the 18-year-old described himself as being in a “more violent phase” of his life. He recalled a time when he was outside the Menlo Park Mall in Edison “enraged” by the number of African Americans around. He had a machete in his car and “wanted to ‘let loose’ with it,” according to the criminal complaint.

Tobin repeatedly described wanting to do something drastically violent and to go out in a “blaze of glory,” according to the criminal complaint.

“He had considered conducting ‘suicide-by-cop’ on numerous occasions, and he believed that carrying out a suicide bombing would be ‘pretty badass,’” according to the criminal complaint.

Tobin appeared in federal court in Camden last week, according to court records. U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen M. Williams ordered Tobin held before a detention hearing scheduled for next month.

Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Follow on Twitter @monavage.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ.

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