Three men were sentenced today for various conspiracy and firearms offenses in connection with a racially-motivated scheme to destroy an energy facility.
Paul James Kryscuk, 38, of Boise, Idaho, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison for conspiracy to destroy an energy facility. Liam Collins, 25, of Johnston, Rhode Island, received a 10-year sentence for aiding and abetting the interstate transportation of unregistered firearms. Justin Wade Hermanson, 25, of Swansboro, North Carolina, was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for conspiracy to manufacture firearms and ship them interstate.
“As part [of] a self-described ‘modern day SS,’ these defendants conspired, prepared, and trained to attack America’s power grid in order to advance their violent white supremacist ideology,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “These sentences reflect both the depravity of their plot and the Justice Department’s commitment to holding accountable those who seek to use violence to undermine our democracy.”
According to court documents and other information presented in court, Kryscuk, Collins, and Hermanson researched and reviewed at length a previous attack on the power grid by an unknown group. The group depicted in the attack used assault-style rifles in an attempt to explode a power substation. Between 2017 and 2020, Kryscuk manufactured firearms while Collins stole military gear, including magazines for assault-style rifles, which he delivered to the other defendants. During that time, co-defendant Jordan Duncan gathered a library of information—some military-owned—regarding firearms, explosives, and nerve toxins and shared it with Kryscuk and Collins. In October 2020, a handwritten list of approximately one dozen intersections and places in Idaho and surrounding states was discovered in Kryscuk’s possession; these locations included intersections containing transformers or substations related to the northwest United States power grid.
Previously filed charges alleged that Collins and Kryscuk were members of the “Iron March” forum until its closure in late 2017. This forum served as a gathering point for young neo-Nazis organizing extremist activities. Collins and Kryscuk met through this forum and expanded their group using an encrypted messaging application as an alternate means of communication outside the forum. They recruited additional members including Duncan, Hermanson, and co-defendant Joseph Maurino. The group conducted training sessions such as live-fire exercises near Boise, Idaho. Video footage from these sessions showed participants firing short-barrel rifles among other weapons; they produced a montage video ending with participants outfitted in Atomwaffen masks giving the “Heil Hitler” sign beneath a Nazi symbol known as the black sun.
The FBI along with Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms & Explosives (ATF) investigated this case.
Trial Attorney John Cella from the National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section alongside Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara Kocher & Gabriel Diaz from Eastern District North Carolina are prosecuting this case—with assistance from U.S Attorneys across Districts including Idaho New Jersey Eastern New York Rhode Island.
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