After a failed attempt to obtain a restraining order against a self-described “Nazi hunter,” a former Buncombe County library employee will see his felony case move ahead in court.
Thomas Vance Pollock is charged with a felony after allegations that he delivered a book affixed with Adolf Hitler’s photo to a woman’s home in Madison County home. The book was about the disappearance of a mother and also featured a sticker that read “Mein Kampf is online.”
The woman is the mother of Kristopher Goldsmith, an Army veteran and the CEO of Task Force Butler, a nonprofit group of veterans who track and expose violent far-right extremists also known as “Nazi hunters.”
Pollock was initially charged last February with misdemeanor stalking. Prosecutors moved to a felony charge this February of “placing an exhibit with the intention of intimidation.”
A new court date of May 2 was determined in February. Then, Pollock tried unsuccessfully to have a judge order Goldsmith to cease any contact with him.
Last February, Goldsmith obtained a temporary restraining order against Pollock in Buncombe County. Later Pollock consented to the one-year no-contact order.
When the order expired last month, Goldsmith obtained a new one.
Recently Pollock filed a petition for a no-contact order against Goldsmith, naming an “out of state organization” (Task Force Butler) as well.
In it, Pollock claimed Goldsmith and Task Force Butler were “divulging personal images and information such as a description of the Pollock family car, resulting in threats to his family’s safety.”
Pollock claimed “anonymous antifascists” slashed car tires, left graffiti vandalism, and posted defamatory flyers of a personal nature at school bus stops in the Pollocks’ neighborhood. The request was dismissed by the district court on Feb. 12.
In March, Goldsmith filed for a new no-contact order which was issued by default judgment after Pollack did not attend a March 21 hearing. The order, dated March 18, prohibited Pollock from coming within 120 feet of his mother and precludes social media or third-party contact with his mother.
Pollock sent a letter to the courthouse in response to service of the no-contact order. In the letter, he said he is between lawyers and objects to the new no-contact order.
“The issue throughout the last year is that her son the “Nazi hunter” Kris Goldsmith, very much a public figure, has continued to smear me in the press while I have been unable to respond directly and publicly because he is named in his mother’s restraining order,” Pollock wrote to the court. “... I resent being slandered by her son while he benefits from the 'gag order' effect of riding his mommy’s restraining order.”
Pollock said he plans to address Goldsmith “freely” and in response to public accusations.
Madison County Sheriff's Office told BPR the FBI was investigating the incident. BPR sent a public records request to the FBI to receive the details of their potential investigation into Pollock. The request was denied and the FBI would not confirm or deny the investigation.