White supremacists sentenced for plotting US power grids attack: DOJ

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
22 Apr 2023 11:54

The DOJ says the defendants' plan was to attack substations and power grids at different locations in the United States using rifles.

Signage seen at the United States Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, DC, US, August 29, 2020 (Reuters)

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed that two Americans have been sentenced to crimes related to a scheme to attack power grids in the country, motivated by "violent extremist ideology."

"These defendants plotted armed attacks against energy facilities to stoke division in furtherance of white supremacist ideology and now they are being held accountable," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said, as quoted in the Department’s Friday release.

According to the statement, Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio, and Jonathan Allen Frost, 24, of Katy, Texas, and West Lafayette, Indiana, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

"The defendants in this case conspired to provide material support to terrorism by putting plans in place to damage America’s infrastructure, motivated by their adherence to racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist ideology," Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division indicated, as quoted by the Justice Department.

The Department specified that Frost and Cook met in the fall of 2019 in an online chat group, noting that as part of the recruitment process, the latter circulated a book list of readings that promoted the ideology of white supremacy and Neo-Nazism.

Their plan was to attack substations and power grids at different locations in the United States, using rifles and with the help of co-conspirators.

"The defendants believed their plan would cost the government millions of dollars and cause unrest for Americans in the region. They had conversations about how the possibility of the power being out for many months could cause war, even a race war, and induce the next Great Depression," the Justice Department explained.

Cook was sentenced to 92 months in prison and Frost was sentenced to 60 months in prison. Another co-conspirator, Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was also charged and pleaded guilty and is expected to be sentenced at a later date.