By Steve Neavling
Federal prosecutors in California have indicted the suspected leaders of an international online white supremacist group, accusing them of encouraging members to commit hate crimes and assassinations in a bid to ignite a race war, according to court documents revealed Monday.
Dallas Erin Humber and Matthew Robert Allison were identified as the defendants on Monday, following their arrests just days earlier. The two face 15 federal charges in California, including allegations of soliciting hate crimes, plotting to murder federal officials, disseminating bomb-making instructions, and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.
Humber, 34, from Elk Grove, California, and Allison, 37, from Boise, Idaho, were taken into custody on Friday.
The indictment claims that the pair led a “transnational terrorist group” known as the Terrorgram Collective, which operates on Telegram and promotes white supremacist beliefs.
The men allegedly used the app to share bomb-making instructions and circulate a list of assassination targets, which included a federal judge, a senator, and a former U.S. attorney. Prosecutors also claim that the suspects used the platform to praise individuals accused of violent acts or plots, such as last month’s stabbing of five people outside a mosque in Turkey.
“Today’s arrests are a warning that committing hate-fueled crimes in the darkest corners of the internet will not hide you, and soliciting terrorist attacks from behind a screen will not protect you,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The United States Department of Justice will find you, and we will hold you accountable.”
