OHIO
Two men were sentenced in federal court today to crimes related to a scheme to attack power grids in the United States in furtherance of white supremacy, officials stated.
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, according to officials.
Cook was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison. Frost was sentenced to five years in prison.
Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was also charged and pleaded guilty in February 2022 in connection with the scheme and will be sentenced later.
“These defendants plotted armed attacks against energy facilities to stoke division in furtherance of white supremacist ideology and now they are being held accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
“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,” said Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division.
Adding, “when individuals move from espousing ideas to planning or committing acts of violence, the FBI will investigate and take action to disrupt their plans. Today’s sentencing demonstrates the commitment we have to working with our partners to bring violent extremists to justice and to protect our communities.”
According to the Columbus Dispatch newspaper, criminal defense attorneys Sam Shamansky and Peter Scranton, representing Frost and Cook, respectively, said in court documents the co-conspirators were immature at the time of their crimes and are now remorseful.
“(Cook) was young and has matured over the last few years. He would be the first to tell you he does not recognize himself from that period,” Cook’s defense attorney Peter Scranton said in court documents. “However, he understands the seriousness of his actions and is eager to put this behind him.”
According to court documents, in the fall of 2019, Frost and Cook met in an online chat group. Frost shared the idea of attacking a power grid with Cook, and within weeks, the two began efforts to recruit others to join in their plan.
As part of the recruitment process, Cook circulated a book list of readings that promoted the ideology of white supremacy and Neo-Nazism.
By late 2019, Sawall – a friend of Cook’s – joined the conspiracy and assisted Cook with online recruitment efforts, operational security and organization.
As part of the conspiracy, each defendant was assigned a substation in a different region of the United States.
The plan was to attack the substations, or power grids, with powerful rifles.
The defendants believed their plan would cost the government millions of dollars and cause unrest for Americans in the region. They talked 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.
In February 2020, the co-conspirators met in Columbus, Ohio, to further discuss their plot. Frost provided Cook with an AR-47 and the two took the rifle to a shooting range to train.
Frost also provided Cook and Sawall with suicide necklaces during the Columbus meeting. The necklaces were filled with fentanyl and were to be ingested if and when the defendants were caught by law enforcement.
Both Cook and Sawall expressed their commitment to dying to further their mission.
Upon arriving in Columbus, Sawall and Cook purchased spray paint and painted a swastika flag under a bridge at a park with the caption, “Join the Front.”
The defendants had additional propaganda plans for their time in Ohio, but they were derailed during a traffic stop, during which Sawall swallowed his suicide pill but ultimately survived.
Court documents detail that Cook and Frost continued to travel together after their Ohio meeting and drove to Texas in March 2020. Cook stayed in different cities with various juveniles he was attempting to recruit for their plot.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica W. Knight for the Southern District of Ohio and Trial Attorney Justin Sher of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting this case.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Columbus, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and Houston.