Final Suspect Sentenced in Neo-Nazi Plot to Attack U.S. Power Grid

A fifth and final suspect was sentenced for his role in a white supremacist plot to attack power facilities. 

29-year-old Jordan Duncan, a former Marine, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty.

Prosecutors say Duncan, along with two other former Marines, Liam Collins and Justin Wade Hermanson, and two other men, Paul James Kryscuk and Joseph Maurino, plotted to attack power facilities in the northwest U.S. to cause chaos, in an attack motivated by neo-Nazi ideology. 

“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,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. “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.”

Planning Operation in Idaho

According to court documents, the group studied previous attacks on power grids, including one where a group used assault rifles to target a substation.

Prosecutors say Kryscuk made weapons, Collins stole military gear, while Duncan gathered information on firearms, explosives, and nerve toxins. The group conducted training in Idaho and filmed their exploits, eventually producing a video montage of the training that ended with the participants wearing AtomWaffen masks (Neo-Nazi skull masks) and giving the “Heil Hitler” sign.

When Kryscuk was arrested in October 2020, law enforcement discovered a list of a dozen intersections and places in Idaho and nearby states that contained a transformer, substation, or other component of the power grid.

Kryscuk was sentenced to over six years in prison, Collins to ten years, and Hermanson and Maurino to 21 months.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) investigated the case.

“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.