Three young white men pleaded guilty to a white supremacist terror plot to disrupt a power grid in hopes of igniting a race war.
Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio; Jonathan Allen Frost, 24, of West Lafayette, Indiana, and Katy, Texas; and Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty last Wednesday to plotting white supremacist-fueled domestic terrorism plot to sow national unrest, NBC News reports.
“These defendants conspired to use violence to sow hate, create chaos, and endanger the safety of the American people,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker for the Southern District of Ohio said.
“As this case shows, federal and state law enforcement agencies are dedicated to working together to protect this country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Federal prosecutors in Ohio found that the three men mapped out a plan to disrupt the power grid to cause civil unrest and economic uncertainty. Cook, Frost, and Sawall had a pact to use “suicide necklaces” laced with fentanyl to kill themselves in the event authorities caught them. When officers stopped Sawall and Cook during a traffic stop, Sawall used his necklace but survived.
According to court documents, Frost and Cook met through an online group in 2019. During this time, Frost started sharing his plan to attack the American power grids, KXAN reports.
Frost and Cook started recruiting more members and shared book lists promoting white supremacy and neo-Nazism. By late 2019, Sawall joined their efforts to orchestrate their terrorist plot.
The trio planned to attack different electricity substations throughout the country by attacking the grids with high-powered rifles. The men thought attacking the power grids would cause economic unrest and ignite a race war.
The three defendants were each charged with providing material support to terrorism and face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.