Three White Supremacists Plead Guilty To Power Grid Attack Plot - Justice Department

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2022) Three men have entered guilty pleas in a court in Columbus in the US state of Ohio to domestic terrorism crime charges related to plans to attack power grids, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

"Three men pleaded guilty today to crimes related to conspiring to attack power grids throughout the United States in furtherance of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism advocating for the supremacy of the white race," the press release said.

Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio; Jonathan Allen Frost, 24, of Katy, Texas and of West Lafayette, Indiana; and Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

"According to these pleas, three individuals engaged in a disturbing plot to attack our country's energy infrastructure, damage the economy, and stoke division in our society, all in the name of white supremacy," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said in the release.

The plan was to attack the substations, or power grids, with powerful rifles. The defendants 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 said.