Former Barre distillery owner unmasked as neo-Nazi podcaster
A former distillery owner and church leader in Barre has apparently gone public as an online persona who espouses neo-Nazi ideas in a radical Lutheran fascist podcast.
After a group of anonymous anti-fascist researchers linked Ryan Woodie Dumperth to the online account “Treblewoe” late last month through a variety of online records, Treblewoe appeared to confirm the connection on June 1, posting pictures of Dumperth and referring to getting “doxed” on the pseudonymous account.
Digging deep into Treblewoe’s posts on Twitter, Gab and other social media websites, the researchers found details of the user’s personal history that matched Dumperth’s and linked the voices of the two to support their claims, among other evidence.
Dumperth, 46, did not respond to phone calls or emails last week and this week requesting comment. Online records indicate he still lives in Barre.
Dumperth founded Old Route Two Spirits, a Barre distillery that was purchased by Connecticut-based John Fitch Distilling Company in 2020. He also served as vice president of the Williamstown Lutheran Church, but left that post after an April 2022 election, according to the church’s current president.
Under the Twitter handle “Treblewoe,” the person who appears to be Dumperth disseminates a unique brand of Lutheran facism. He hosts a podcast, Stone Choir, with fellow Lutheran fascist Corey Mahler, the subject of a Rolling Stone exposé earlier this year. The story ran with the headline, “He Believes Hitler Went to Heaven — and Wants to Take Over the Lutheran Church.”
Online, Treblewoe’s hate runs the gamut of bigoted beliefs, from pseudoscientific race science and obsessions with patriarchal power structures to general conspiracies about a Jewish cabal running the world.
Alongside his hatreds, Woe, an alternate name used by the same account online, purports to be an extremist member of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a traditional branch of Lutheranism with about 1.8 million members.
As allegations of hateful, alt-right and neo-Nazi members of the church have come to light — such as those involving Dumperth’s alleged Podcast cohost Mahler — the church’s president, Matthew Harrison, earlier this year condemned the “radical and unchristian ‘alt-right’ views” of some of the church’s members.
In Vermont, Dumperth founded Old Route Two Spirits, which produced gin, rum and other spirits. The business received a boost from the Barre Revolving Loan Fund and the Vermont Community Loan Fund, which together approved a $100,000 loan for Old Route Two.
According to Will Belongia, executive director of the Vermont Community Loan Fund, Old Route Two’s loan has been paid off. Belongia said VCLF was “totally unaware” of Dumperth’s beliefs and would not have supported the loan if it was aware of the allegations.
Adam Overbay, who founded Old Route Two alongside Dumperth, said he first was alerted to his former business partner’s apparent beliefs after Dumperth’s photos appeared online linked with Treblewoe.
“It’s obviously very gross,” Overbay said of Dumperth’s alleged online presence. “Weirded out gives a pretty good sense of my emotional state by it. It’s something that’s kind of alien to me.”
According to Overbay, he and Dumperth knew they had differing political beliefs, but Dumperth never made any “overtly racist” comments to him. The two have kept in only sporadic touch since Old Route Two Spirits was bought out in 2020, Overbay said.
When John Fitch Distilling Company purchased Old Route Two in 2020, Ryan Dumperth ceased involvement, according to Shawn Jacobaccio, president of John Fitch.
“The John Fitch Distilling Company supports an inclusive community that works toward making the world a happier place, free of judgement and hatred,” Jacobaccio wrote in a statement. “We like nice people who prioritize helping others. All others.”
In an interview, Jacobaccio said he first heard about Dumperth’s alleged beliefs earlier this month. John Fitch is still paying Dumperth for some of Old Route Two’s inventory, he said.
Up until last year, Dumperth served as vice president of the Williamstown Lutheran Church. In an email, Jim Stone, the congregation’s president, said, “The Church’s Leadership and I have become aware of the online activity and are in the process of gathering all the information.” In response to a further request for comment, he wrote, “Ryan has left the church on his own and does not represent Williamstown Lutheran Church.”
Tax documents show that Dumperth served as a director of the Barre Area Development Corp. in the fiscal year ending June 2019.
Online, Dumperth is perhaps most known for his podcast Stone Choir, which has claimed to attract 30,000 unique visitors. The podcast cohosts describe themselves as bringing a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod perspective to world affairs. “We’ll probably make you nervous, sometimes make you angry, and never leave you bored,” the show claims.
In practice, though, recent episodes are spent disparaging Martin Luther King Jr. and discussing unfounded allegations that leaders of the LCMS are pedophiles.
Dumperth was first linked with the Stone Choir podcast late last month, when an anonymous group of anti-fascist researchers called Machaira Action sought to connect Dumperth with the online handle “Treblewoe.”
Almost immediately, Treblewoe seemed to affirm the connection. On May 31, the online account posted that he had been “doxed” — online terminology for having one’s identity exposed publicly. The following day, Treblewoe posted a meme that included a picture of Ryan Dumperth that had not been publicized. He referred to the picture of Dumperth as “show(ing) my face.”
In the comments, someone asked “who’s the guy on the left,” referring to the photo of Dumperth.
Treblewoe replied: “me.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Former Barre distillery owner unmasked as neo-Nazi podcaster.