Two former Marines were sentenced to prison Thursday for their involvement in a neo-Nazi plot to target the power grid in the U.S. that included amassing weapons and explosives.
Liam Collins, who received a sentence of 10 years in prison, was charged with aiding and abetting interstate transportation of unregistered firearms as part of a plea deal. Justin Hermanson received one year and nine months in prison. A third co-conspirator, Paul James Kryscuk, 38, received six years and six months in prison on Thursday.
Collins and Hermanson, both 25, served in the Marine Corps as infantrymen until their separation in 2020 and 2021, according to their service records, which were provided to Military.com by the service on Friday. Collins was a leader in the now-defunct far-right, neo-Nazi online message board called "Iron March."
Read Next: National Guard May Be Without Leadership After Last-Minute White House Nomination for New Chief
Collins, who appeared to be a ringleader in the extremist cell, stole military gear from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he was stationed and where Hermanson also served, according to court records. In 2020, the group discussed plans to attack a substation in the northwestern U.S., attempting to build an arsenal of firearms and explosives to do so.
"These are important sentences for members of a neo-Nazi terror cell," Jon Lewis, an extremist researcher with the George Washington University, told Military.com on Friday. "This case is concerningly indicative of the state of the domestic terrorism threat today, one in which small cells of far-right extremists conspire to collapse the system."
Some members gathered to conduct firearms training in Boise, Idaho, while surveilling protests by Black Lives Matter, or BLM. They recorded themselves shooting short-barrel rifles while wearing Atomwaffen Division outfits and flashing "Heil Hitler" salutes under an image of the black sun, which is a notorious neo-Nazi symbol. Atomwaffen Division is another neo-Nazi group that formed out of the members of Iron March, which closed down in 2017.
"It's also important to recognize the importance of societal events in mobilizing far-right extremists," Lewis said. "In this case, defendants plotted violence against BLM protesters in the summer of 2020. These mobilizing events and the mainstreaming of extremist rhetoric in response are what continue to radicalize and inspire."
Throughout the plot, Collins discussed recruiting members to Iron March, the neo-Nazi message board, which had a heavy military presence. Extremists often try to recruit from among members of the military and veterans to legitimize their cause, Military.com previously reported.
"Everyone [in the group] is going to be required to have served in a nation's military, whether U.S., U.K., or Poland," Collins wrote in 2016, according to court records. "I'll be in the USMC for 4 years while my comrades work on the groups [sic] physical formation. ... It will take years to gather all the experience and intelligence that we need to utilize -- but that's what makes it fun."
Between 2017 and 2020, when Collins was in the military, Kryscuk built firearms and collaborated with Joseph Maurino, an Army National Guardsman, according to court records, exchanging payments and messaging with each other on encrypted apps. In 2020, the Marine Corps told Military.com that Collins' separation was "indicative of the fact that the character of his service was incongruent with Marine Corps' expectations and standards."
Jordan Duncan, also a onetime Marine and defense contractor, researched information on firearms, explosives and nerve toxins as part of the cell. In 2020, one of the co-conspirators was found to have a handwritten list of roughly a dozen locations -- allegedly potential targets -- in and around Idaho, Military.com previously reported.
"As part [of] a self-described 'modern-day SS,' these defendants conspired, prepared, and trained to attack America's power grid in order to advance their violent white supremacist ideology," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press release this week announcing the sentencing.
"These sentences reflect both the depravity of their plot and the Justice Department's commitment to holding accountable those who seek to use violence to undermine our democracy," he said.
The FBI, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case, according to the press release.
Military.com attempted to reach attorneys for Collins and Hermanson.
According to a voicemail for Hermanson's lawyer, Walter Hoytt Paramore III, the attorney was in "the process of closing his private practice" and his office was closed earlier this month.
"There remain significant unanswered questions about this case, namely how two active-duty Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune were able to simultaneously participate in the activities of this terror cell, including through the theft of Marine Corps equipment," said Lewis, the university researcher.
