Federal prosecutors unveiled charges Monday against two people who allegedly sought to incite a race war by encouraging their online group of white supremacists to carry out hate crimes and other violent acts.
The defendants, Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison, face 15 counts each, including charges for soliciting hate crimes and the murder of federal officials, issuing instructions for bombmaking and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.
Prosecutors say Humber, 34, and Allison, 37, began running the white supremacist group Terrorgram in 2022, after previous leaders became embroiled in other terrorism investigations. The group is described in court filings as a network of channels, users and group chats on the app Telegram seeking “white revolution and domination.”
“Whether motivated by racial bias or antagonism toward government and societal norms, such behavior will not be tolerated," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement Monday. "Terrorism is still the FBI’s number one priority, and working with our partners we are committed to investigating and holding accountable those who break the laws and assist violent actors in lethal plots.”
Humber and Allison allegedly distributed a hit list of “high-value targets” for assassination to the group, which named and gave addresses for federal officials including a U.S. senator, federal judge and U.S. attorney whom they deemed an “enemy” of white supremacist accelerationism.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, leader of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said in a statement that the group targeted Black, immigrant, LGBT and Jewish people.
When disseminating the hit list, two leaders urged their followers to “Take Action Now” and “do your part," prosecutors said. Users who committed an attack in the name of Terrorgram could become known as "Saints," joining the ranks of other white supremacist mass murderers.
In addition to encouraging attacks on the perceived enemies of white people, Humber and Allison also encouraged Terrorgram members to target government infrastructure, including federal buildings and energy facilities.
Two recent incidents — a New Jersey 18-year-old’s arrest in July for plotting to attack an energy facility to advance his white supremacist views and the stabbing of five people outside a mosque in Turkey last month — were tied to the group, prosecutors said.
The 37-page indictment against the duo was filed on Sept. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, despite being unsealed Monday. Humber pleaded not guilty during a court hearing before a federal magistrate judge Monday, and a detention hearing was scheduled for Friday.
"Today’s arrests are a warning that committing hate-fueled crimes in the darkest corners of the internet will not hide you, and soliciting terrorist attacks from behind a screen will not protect you," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Monday.
"The United States Department of Justice will find you, and we will hold you accountable," he added.
