Skyler Philippi, 24, of Columbia, Tennessee, was arrested by federal agents and charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to destroy an energy facility.
“As charged, Skyler Philippi believed he was moments away from launching an attack on a Nashville energy facility to further his violent white supremacist ideology – but the FBI had already compromised his plot,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This case serves as yet another warning to those seeking to sow violence and chaos in the name of hatred by attacking our country’s critical infrastructure: the Justice Department will find you, we will disrupt your plot, and we will hold you accountable. I am grateful to the public servants of the FBI for their extraordinary work on this case and for the work they do every day to keep our country safe.”
“Those fueled by hate and inspired to violence by racial or ethnic bias pose a grave threat to our national security,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. “As alleged in today’s charges, Skyler Philippi, a man dedicated to white supremacist ideology and the destruction of our critical infrastructure, planned to attack Nashville’s power grid using a drone carrying an explosive device. Thanks to brave work by the FBI, his scheme was thwarted. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify, disrupt, and hold accountable those who seek to wage such hate-fueled violence, which has no place in America or anywhere else.”
I knew a guy who was friends with a bunch of muslim assholes who ended up in prison for planning a terrorist attack.
He kept arguing that the FBI informant encouraged them and it wasn’t their fault.
My counter was: if the FBI sent someone to me talking about doing a terrorist attack in order to “catch” me, it wouldn’t work because I’d report the guy to the police. You know, because I’m not a terrorist.
I also suggested if they were dumb enough to be caught by the FBIs nefarious plot (while being in the country illegally), then they were really too stupid to live and they were probably better off in prison having someone else do their thinking for them.
Jackasses like them are fucking things up for all the other undocumented immigrants who just want to do jobs we don’t want for slave wages.
Honestly, I might have had more sympathy for them if they had someone sympathetic to argue their side. The guy I knew was a pain in the ass.
Entrapment exists because people need a legal defense against law enforcement getting them to do a crime.