SAN DIEGO (Tribune News Service) — A San Diego-based Marine Corps reservist is under investigation by the Marines after membership interviews with a white supremacist hate group were leaked by activists and highlighted in a subsequent Southern Poverty Law Center report on the high percentage of applicants that claimed military ties.

In its report, the SPLC found that one in five applicants to the hate group Patriot Front claimed to either be on active duty or veterans of the military. It highlighted one applicant who said he was a San Diego-based Marine veteran.

Local activists noted that Cpl. Victor Krvaric, 21, shares the same biographical details — such as age, job titles and family background — as the anonymous applicant cited in the SPLC report. Krvaric is a son of Tony Krvaric, the ex-chairman of the county Republican Party.

San Diego activists affiliated with The Activated Podcast were the first to point to Krvaric as possibly being the unnamed person in the SPLC report. In a detailed thread on Twitter Wednesday, the podcast pointed to the similarities between Krvaric and the applicant, who is named in the leaked chats as “Interviewee 441515.”

A Marine Corps Reserve spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the service is investigating whether Krvaric is the interviewee in the leaked communications.

“The Marine Corps investigates when a command receives information that a service member may be involved in active participation with an extremist organization or extremist activity,” said Lt. Col. Craig Thomas, a spokesperson for the Marine Forces Reserve, in a statement. “There is no place for extremism in the Marine Corps. Our strength is derived from the individual excellence of every Marine regardless of background. Bigotry and racial extremism run contrary to our core values.”

Military members are prohibited from participating in extremist organizations and the Pentagon has increased efforts to root out extremism in its ranks in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

Krvaric did not respond Tuesday to a text message sent to a number associated with him. When a Union-Tribune reporter called Wednesday morning, a young man answered, refused to identify himself and hung up. “Have a nice day,” the man said.

Krvaric joined the Marines in July 2018 and is currently assigned to the Selected Marine Corps Reserve as a light-armored-vehicle Marine. He’s assigned to the 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion at Camp Pendleton, the Marines said.

According to the SPLC, Patriot Front was founded in the wake of the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., after breaking off from neo-Nazi group Vanguard America. Its founder, Thomas Rousseau, led Vanguard America members at the rally. A man photographed holding a Vanguard America shield, James Fields Jr., went on to drive his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, killing one. In 2019, Fields was convicted of murder and federal hate crimes and sentenced to life in prison. The group denied Fields was a member.

In January, activists from the reporting collective Unicorn Riot published more than 400 gigabytes of leaked Patriot Front communications.

“Ostensibly private, unedited videos and direct messages reveal a campaign to organize acts of racial hatred while indoctrinating teenagers into national socialism (Nazism),” Unicorn Riot said in a story announcing the leak. The U-T was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of the documents. Thomas Rousseau, the leader of Patriot Front, confirmed in a podcast on Jan. 27 that the organization was hacked.

In a membership interview report, “Interviewee 441515” told the hate group he believed in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and that non-Europeans shouldn’t be allowed in the U.S. unless they were “doctors” or a “net positive” to the economy.

The applicant discussed the Marine Corps during his interview, according to the leaked documents, saying he had a tumultuous experience, including a fight at a Marine Corps ball. He also told Patriot Front that he “found out about Jews” after joining the Corps.

The applicant told the group he was currently working as a guard with the Department of Homeland Security, handling inmate check-ins. According to his LinkedIn account, Victor Krvaric works for contractor Stratus Security Management, handling detainees for the Department of Homeland Security.

The applicant also told the group he currently works for his father’s financial practice. Tony Krvaric, the former chairman of the county Republican Party and Victor Krvaric’s father, is the president and CEO of Krvaric Capital & Risk Management. Victor Krvaric is listed on the company’s website as a client service associate.

Tony Krvaric did not respond to a request for comment. Homeland Security and the contracting company did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The interviewee told the group he was 21 years old and living in San Diego, and said he was a first-generation immigrant and that both of his parents were from Sweden. Tony Krvaric was born and raised in Sweden before immigrating to the U.S. in 1992, he previously told Voice of San Diego.

The interviewee also told Patriot Front he had previously been “doxed” at a BLM protest. Victor Krvaric was identified at a BLM protest in August 2020 when protesters accused him of “antagonizing” them.

The Patriot Front interviewee credited his brother with exposing him to extremist ideology. Victor Krvaric’s brother, Oliver Krvaric, 23, was the former head of the San Diego State College Republicans. While in charge of the organization, Krvaric took the group to the extreme right and frequently engaged with and retweeted accounts affiliated with the White nationalist “Groyper” movement, according to The Daily Aztec.

An archived screenshot of an Instagram account alleged to be Victor Krvaric’s, published by KPBS, shows that, at one time, he also identified as a “Groyper.”

Patriot Front has been active in San Diego since at least 2018, when its flyers were distributed at SDSU. The flyers, which featured the White supremacist slogan “not stolen, conquered” over a graphic of the continental United States, were found in a Daily Aztec news stand near the university’s music building. They also featured the group’s website URL: “bloodandsoil.org.”

Another former Marine, Lance Cpl. Thomas Martin, shared the same graphic on social media in 2019. Martin was kicked out of the Marines after a Union-Tribune investigation into his social media accounts.

It’s not the first time the group has had its communications leaked by Unicorn Riot. In 2019, Discord messaging app chat logs from several extremist groups were published, including those of Patriot Front. Some of the chats revealed details about extremist activity on San Diego college campuses.

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