COLUMBUS — Two men were sentenced Monday in federal court for conspiring to attack power grids throughout the United States with the purpose of promoting a white supremacy ideology, the Department of Justice said.
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Christopher Brenner Cook, 21 of Columbus, was sentenced to 92 months in prison while Jonathan Allen Frost, 25, of Katy, Texas, will serve 60 months.
Jackson Matthew Sawall, 22 of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was also charged and pleaded guilty back in 2022, his case is still pending.
“These defendants plotted armed attacks against energy facilities to stoke division in furtherance of white supremacist ideology and now they are being held accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “The Justice Department will not tolerate the use of violence to advance any extremist ideology and we remain determined to protect our communities from such hateful acts of terror.”
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According to court documents, Frost and Cook met in 2019 in an online chat group. Frost shared the idea of attacking a power grid with Cook and the two began efforts to recruit others to join in their plan. As part of the recruitment process, Cook asked questions and circulated a list of books promoting the ideology of white supremacy and Neo-Nazism.
The defendants had a separated propaganda group named “The Front” that planned to take credit for the power grid attack if it was successful and believed their plan would the government millions and cause unrest for Americans, according to the DOJ.
The two met in 2020 to further discuss their plot and additional plans for their time in Ohio but were derailed during a traffic stop.
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Courts documents say Cook and Frost continued further of the conspiracy to travel together after their Ohio meeting to Oklahoma and Texas where Cook stayed in different cities with various juveniles he was attempting to recruit for their plot. When law enforcement each defendant’s residence, they discovered multiple firearms, chemicals, components capable of building explosives, Nazi material and information about U.S. power infrastructure and substations.
Both Frost and Cook were charged by a Bill in Information and pleaded guilty in February in 2022 to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.
“The individuals sentenced today created a suicide pact to sow hatred and commit terrorist acts intended to destabilize our country,” stated FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge J. William Rivers. “Through rigorous investigation and law enforcement partnerships, their radical plan was halted. Today’s sentence is a message to anyone with similar plans that they will be disrupted and held accountable for conspiring to commit violence.”
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