A former soldier was sentenced to 45 years in jail on Friday for planning a “jihadist assault” on his fellow troopers in his Army unit.
A Justice Division (DOJ) release states 24-year-old Ethan Melzer, a person from Louisville, Ky., pleaded responsible in June to making an attempt to homicide U.S. service members, offering and making an attempt to present materials assist for terrorists and illegally transmitting nationwide protection info.
Court docket paperwork state Melzer deliberate the assault within the days earlier than being deployed to Turkey and despatched particulars about his unit like its location, actions and safety, to a white supremacist, neo-Nazi, pro-jihadist group referred to as the Order of the 9 Angles.
The discharge states Melzer is a member of the group, which spreads antisemitic and Satanic beliefs, pushes for violence to finish Western civilization and has expressed assist for Nazis like Adolf Hitler and Islamic jihadists like Osama bin Laden.
Melzer joined the Army round 2018 in an effort to infiltrate it as a member of the order, in accordance to the DOJ.
After the Army advised Melzer round Could 2020 that he was going to be reassigned to a unit scheduled for international deployment, he gave details about the unit to the group, utilizing an encrypted messaging utility to plan an assault on the opposite troopers within the unit, per the division.
The discharge states Melzer and his co-conspirators referred to what they have been planning as a “jihadi assault” that was meant to trigger a “mass casualty” occasion.
These concerned additionally handed messages on to a purported member of al-Qaed, in accordance to the DOJ. Melzer moreover promised to give members of his group photographs of the power and the frequency of radio communications as soon as he arrived on the base.
The discharge states Melzer mentioned he was prepared to die within the assault as a result of “one other 10 yr battle within the Center East would undoubtedly depart a mark” and the assault would additional the group’s objectives. He advised his co-conspirators that he deleted some messages of their communications as a result of the plan can be treason.
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