How Matthew Heimbach will spend part of his summer
Matthew Heimbach will spend the early part of his summer in jail.
A judge in Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday sentenced Heimbach, the disgraced head of the Traditionalist Worker Party, to 38 days in the city jail for violating the terms of a suspended sentence handed down in 2017.
The jail time is the latest ripple of trouble for Heimbach, who has seen his life and his organization fall into disarray since his arrest in March.
Heimbach received the 90-day suspended sentence, along with an order to attend anger management courses, in July 2017 after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct. He was also told to steer clear of any legal troubles for two years.
He had been accused of shoving a woman at a Donald Trump rally during the 2016 presidential campaign.
But, after a strange family incident in Indiana in March, Heimbach’s freedom fell into question.
Police in Paoli said Heimbach attacked his wife and TWP spokesman Matt Parrott after the two confronted him about the affair Heimbach was having with Parrott’s wife, who is also Heimbach’s mother-in-law.
Heimbach is free on $1,000 bail on a battery charge in Indiana. Those charges are pending and a pre-trial hearing is scheduled for May 30.
Prosecutors in Louisville cited that arrest as a violation of the Kentucky plea agreement and asked a judge to revoke Heimbach’s suspended sentence.
After the arrest, Parrott announced he was walking away from the Traditionalist Worker Party. Parrott was the primary financial benefactor of TWP. Since the arrest, the group’s website has vanished from the internet and TWP’s future remains unclear.
Heimbach has not publicly commented on the incident or the future of the Traditionalist Worker Party.
Heimbach, known for wearing all black in public, appeared in court Tuesday with his hair cut close and wearing a blue collared shirt and red tie.
Court security officers led him out of the room in handcuffs.
Heimbach’s wife and Parrott each filed for divorce from their respective spouses. Those petitions are pending in Orange County, Indiana.
Heimbach led the Traditionalist Worker Party and its sister organization, the Traditionalist Youth Network, both of which advocate for racially pure nations and communities and blame Jews for many of the world's problems. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Heimbach became one of the most vocal — though hardly the most influential — white nationalist supporters of then candidate Trump.
A federal civil lawsuit against Trump, Heimbach and multiple others stemming from the violence at the Louisville rally is pending in federal court.
Trump appealed a ruling allowing part of the lawsuit to go forward.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments on the appeal June 6 in Cincinnati.
