https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8644781/Satanist-ex-soldier-sentenced-2-1-2-years-bomb-plot.html
A 'satanist' ex-soldier with ties to white supremacist groups and who hoped to overthrow the US government has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in federal prison over a bomb plot.Jarrett William Smith, a 24-year-old private first class stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, was sentenced Wednesday for distributing information through social media about building a bomb and making napalm.
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Smith was arrested in September after discussing plans to use explosives with an undercover FBI agent.
During those conversations, Smith reportedly suggested that the agent target a news organization, said to be CNN, with a car bomb.
He is also alleged to have said that he would like to target Beto O'Rourke for 'fire, destruction and death'.
A federal judge rejected a request from Smith's attorney for a lenient sentence of 15 months in prison Wednesday, saying the former soldier wanted to start a 'race war' and had endangered 'countless members of the public' with his bomb plot.
US District Judge Daniel Crabtree said he was surprised that federal sentencing guidelines called for such a 'low' prison sentence for 'troubling and serious' criminal behavior, adding that Smith shared on social media 'multistep plans to create chaos.'
'His planned actions, if executed, would have endangered countless members of the public,' Crabtree said
Federal law called for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, but sentencing guidelines said the presumed punishment for a first-time offender like Smith was two-and-a-half years to a little over three years in prison.
Crabtree also ordered three years of supervised probation for Smith after his release from prison.
Smith's attorney had argued that because he had red hair and a cleft lip and palate, Smith had endured a lifetime of victimization, isolation and trauma, which led him to become involved with online extremist groups.
Federal public defender Rich Federico said in a court filing that Smith endured a near-daily barrage of bullying as a child and had repeated, painful reconstructive surgeries
In 2010, when he was a freshman in high school, Smith learned he had been on a classmate's 'hit list' as the intended target of a thwarted school shooting and bomb plot, his defense claimed.
'That has a huge impact on who you are,' Federico said Wednesday.
The Anti-Defamation League has said Smith was associated with the neo-Nazi Feuerkrieg Division, which advocates for a race war and promotes some of the most extreme views of the white supremacist movement
Federico said Smith lacked the basic knowledge to actually build explosive devices and was often 'just regurgitating' what he'd seen online.
'He's not far removed from adolescence,' Federico told the judge.
'He is particularly vulnerable to extremists online.'
Prosecutors argued that Smith admitted to providing information about making explosives to an FBI undercover agent in September 2019 and that FBI bomb technicians determined that his recipes were viable
Prosecutors said Smith planned to overthrow the government, with attacking a news organization as a first step.
An FBI affidavit said Smith suggested to the undercover agent targeting an unidentified major news organization with a car bomb, and CNN reported that it was the target, citing two sources familiar with the investigation.
The affidavit said the FBI undercover agent asked Smith if there was anyone in Texas to target for 'fire, destruction and death,' and that Smith mentioned 'Beto,' an apparent reference to former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who was running at the time for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The affidavit said Smith told another FBI agent before his arrest that his goal was to create 'chaos.'
Prosecutors said in September that Smith told the agent he distributed explosives information 'for the glory of his Satanist religion,' though they provided few other details, other than saying that Smith liked 'black metal' music designed to attract people to Satan.
An FBI affidavit in September alleged that Smith discussed a plan to kill 'antifa' activists and described how to build a bomb that could be triggered by calling a cellphone
According to a statement put out by the Department of Justice, Smith also spoke to others on social media about wanting to travel to Ukraine to fight with a violent, far-right military group.
The affidavit identified the Ukrainian paramilitary group as Azov Battalion and said Smith was mentored by someone who had fought with a similar group there, Right Sector.
Federal investigators have said Smith had encrypted communications with a Missouri man who this year planned to bomb a Kansas City-area hospital because he was distressed by the government´s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
That man killed himself in March during a firefight with FBI agents as they served an arrest warrant, according to the FBI
Smith pleaded guilty back in February to two counts of distributing information related to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction.
Smith joined the Army in June 2017. He served as an infantry soldier and was trained in combat and tactical operations at Fort Bliss, Texas.
He was transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas last July - where he was arrested last year.
Seems like he wears an "Odinist mjölner" that isn't satanist. Black metal fans aren't all satanists. He sounds like a silly kid for illegal activity but I think the media are trying to sensationalise a few aspects.