Fifth White Power bro sentenced in harebrained plot to attack U.S. power grid

A North Carolina White Power bro was sentenced on Tuesday in connection with a plot to attack the power grid.

Jordan Duncan, 29, of Bailey, N.C., was the fifth of five defendants charged in the case.

Duncan, Liam Collins, 25, of Johnston, R.I., and Justin Wade Hermanson, 25, of Swansboro, N.C., are former Marines who were assigned to Camp Lejeune.

Collins and Paul James Kryscuk, 38, of Boise, Idaho, were members of the Iron March forum, an interwebs gathering point for neo-Nazis to organize and recruit for extremist organizations, until the forum was closed in late 2017.

Collins and Kryscuk met through the forum and expanded their group using an encrypted messaging application as an alternate means of communication outside of the forum.

Collins and Kryscuk recruited additional members, including Duncan, Hermanson and Joseph Maurino, 25, of Manalapan, N.J.

According to court documents, the group researched, discussed and reviewed at length a previous attack on the power grid by an unknown group who 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, and had them delivered to the other defendants.

During that time, Duncan gathered a library of information, some military-owned, regarding firearms, explosives and nerve toxins and shared that information with Kryscuk and Collins. Members of the group went on to conduct training, including a live-fire training in the desert near Boise.

From video footage recorded by the members during the training, Kryscuk, Duncan and others produced a montage video of their training. In the video, the participants are seen firing short barrel rifles and other assault-type rifles, and the end of the propaganda video shows the four participants outfitted in AtomWaffen masks giving the “Heil Hitler” sign, beneath the image of a black sun, a Nazi symbol.

The last frame bears the phrase, “Come home white man.”

A handwritten list of approximately one dozen intersections and places in Idaho and surrounding states was discovered in Kryscuk’s possession when he was arrested in 2020, including intersections and/or places containing a transformer, substation or other component of the power grid for the Pacific Northwest.

“We have now brought to justice all five of the defendants involved in a self-described ‘modern day SS,’ who conspired, prepared, and trained to attack America’s power grid in the name of violent white supremacist ideology,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said. “The Justice Department is aggressively investigating, disrupting, and prosecuting these kinds of hate-fueled plots that seek to sow violence and chaos and endanger our national security.”

“This NCIS-led investigation has been crucial in dismantling a domestic terrorist cell intent on targeting innocent people and destroying critical infrastructure,” said NCIS Director Omar Lopez. “The tireless efforts of NCIS, our dedicated law enforcement partners, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that those who conspire to undermine our national security are thoroughly investigated and held accountable.”

“There is no place for hate in America,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “The Department of Homeland Security is proud to support the whole-of-government, and in fact whole-of-society, effort to disrupt acts of hate-fueled violence and bring the perpetrators to justice. Every single day, Special Agents of Homeland Security Investigations bring tremendous dedication, bravery, and skill to this vital mission, and our whole country is safer for their service — because whenever one community is targeted by an act of hate, we are all the victims.”

“Today’s sentencing is the final step in holding accountable five men who were planning to attack an energy facility and were inspired by racially motivated violent extremism,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “If the defendants had been able to carry out an attack it could have caused suffering to thousands of American citizens. The FBI is committed to detecting and stopping such acts and will continue to work with prosecutors to see justice is served in such cases.”