Jarrett William Smith, a 24-year old Private First Class, infantry soldier stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, was charged with one count of distributing information related to explosives and weapons of mass destruction.
In an online chat group, Smith allegedly discussed with a confidential source in August a plan to conduct an attack within the United States and said he was looking for more “radicals” like himself, the complaint alleges.
During his first court appearance on Monday, the magistrate ordered that he remain in custody pending a detention hearing on Thursday.
Prosecutors allege Smith discussed his plan to kill far-left-leaning “Antifa” activists and described how to build a bomb that could be triggered by calling a cellphone.
They allege that he also said on Facebook that he was interested in traveling to Ukraine to fight with a paramilitary group known as Azov Batallion, according to the Associated Press.
Court papers say Smith also suggested targeting a major news network with a car bomb. The news network was not identified. He talked about destroying nearby cell towers or a local news station.
“This is the Middle East–style bomb that, if big enough or connected to the right explosive, can damage or destroy U.S. military vehicles,” Smith told an undercover FBI agent of car bombs, according to court documents.
“Most of the time, it can obliterate civilian vehicles and people nearby.”
In an online chat group, Smith allegedly discussed in August with a confidential source a plan to conduct an attack within the United States and said he was looking for more “radicals” like himself, the complaint alleges.
He talked about destroying nearby cell towers or a local news station.
Smith was arrested over the weekend and admitted to FBI agents that he knows how to make explosive devices and routinely provides instruction on how to build those devices online.
In an interview before his arrest, Smith told investigators he knows how to make improvised explosives devices and that he routinely provides instruction on building them. He stated he did this to cause “chaos.”
Lt. Col. Terry Kelley, with the 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs at Fort Riley, said in a statement that Smith has been assigned to Fort Riley since June 2019.
He previously served at Fort Bliss, Texas, from November 2017 to June 2019.
He entered the Army from Conway, South Carolina, as an infantryman and completed training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He has not deployed.
The most notorious domestic terrorist in U.S. history was Timothy McVeigh, he was stationed at Fort Riley for a time before he left the Army and eventually staged the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people in 1995.
READ THE FULL CRIMINAL: COMPLAINT HERE
Source: https://archive.li/1YNSy
