West Lafayette neo-Nazi pleads guilty in domestic terrorism plot
(WISH) — A West Lafayette man pleaded guilty to domestic terrorism charges in a plot to attack power grids and possibly start a race war.
Jonathan Frost was one of three men who entered pleas Thursday. Also charged are Christopher Cook of Columbus, Ohio and Jackson Sawall of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
According to the Department of Justice, Frost met Cook in an online chat group back in 2019. Frost shared the idea of attacking the power grid with Cook.
Within weeks, the two started to recruit others to join their plan.
The men met in February 2020 in Ohio and Frost gave Cook an AR-47. Frost also provided suicide necklaces filled with fentanyl.
According to investigators, the men thought attacking the power grid would cause unrest, a race war and another Great Depression. Investigators say Cook circulated white and neo-Nazi book lists. Cook and Sawall spray painted a swastika under a bridge and captioned it, “Join the Front.”
“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 G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said in a statement. “The Justice Department will continue to investigate and disrupt such violent plots, and to hold perpetrators accountable in a courtroom, where the rule of law and the Constitution prevail.”
All of the men face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
