|
Skyler Philippi, of Columbia, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to
attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to
destroy an energy facility, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Middle District of Tennessee said in a statement. He faces up to
life in prison at his Jan. 8 sentencing.
“For months, Philippi planned what he had hoped would be a
devastating attack on Nashville’s energy infrastructure. He
acquired what he believed to be explosives, surveilled his
target, and equipped a drone to attack an electrical substation.
Motivated by a violent ideology, Philippi wanted ‘to do
something big.’ Instead, the FBI disrupted his plans, and
Philippi now awaits sentencing,” Assistant Attorney General for
National Security John A. Eisenberg said in the statement.
Philippi's lawyer, R. David Baker, didn't immediately respond to
an email seeking comment.
Philippi told a confidential FBI source in July 2024 that he
wanted to attack several electricity substations to “shock the
system," an FBI agent wrote in the criminal complaint. That
source later introduced Philippi to an undercover FBI employee,
who began to collect information about Philippi’s plan with
other undercover agents.
In November 2024, Philippi and undercover employees drove to his
intended Nashville launch site and prepared to fly a drone that
authorities say Philippi believed had 3 pounds (1.4 kilograms)
of C-4 plastic explosive attached to it. The material had been
provided by the undercover employees, according to prosecutors.
When he was arrested, Philippi had the drone powered up and was
preparing to attach the armed explosive device to it as
undercover employees pretended to be acting as lookouts for him,
prosecutors said.
Philippi allegedly told undercover officials that he was
affiliated with several white nationalist and extremist groups,
including the National Alliance, which calls for eradicating
Jews and other groups of people. Such extremist groups
increasingly view attacking the U.S. power grid as a means of
disrupting the country.
Philippi pleaded not guilty in January. In a March letter to the
judge from jail, Philippi claimed that the undercover FBI agents
had violated his due process rights and that his public defender
had provided ineffective counsel.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights
reserved |
|
