The Department of Justice (DOJ) has arrested two leaders of an online transnational terrorist group operating on Telegram.
On Friday, the DOJ indicted 34-year-old Dallas Humber of Elk Grove, California, and 37-year-old Matthew Allison, of Boise, Idaho, for hate crime and murder solicitation and conspiring to support terrorists.
Humber and Allison both allegedly communicated on Telegram and were known as the Terrorgram Collective, a network of users who promoted white supremacy.
“Today’s indictment charges the defendants with leading a transnational terrorist group dedicated to attacking America’s critical infrastructure, targeting a hit list of our country’s public officials, and carrying out deadly hate crimes—all in the name of violent white supremacist ideology,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
“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.”
The defendants joined Terrorgram in 2019, and by 2022, they were allegedly leading the group in its production of Terrorgram media that provided instruction on how to carry out crimes and listing “high-value targets for assassination.”
“The hit list included U.S. federal, state, and local officials, as well as leaders of private companies and non-governmental organizations, many of whom were targeted because of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity,” the DOJ said.
The leaders provided instructions on how to implement terrorist attacks on government infrastructure, including energy facilities, to accelerate government collapse and start a race war.
Individuals under their leadership committed crimes internationally, including allegedly shooting three people outside of an LGBT bar in Slovakia and stabbing five people in Turkey. Others allegedly planned an attack on a New Jersey energy facility.
Humber and Allison have been indicted on one count of conspiracy, four counts of soliciting hate crimes, three counts of soliciting the murder of federal officials, three counts of doxxing federal officials, one count of threatening communications, one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, and two counts of distributing instructions for making explosives, the DOJ said.
The defendants face a maximum penalty of 220 years in prison.
“Hate crimes fueled by bigotry and white supremacy, and amplified by the weaponization of digital messaging platforms, are on the rise and have no place in our society,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said.
“Make no mistake, as hate groups turn to online platforms, the federal government is adapting and responding to protect vulnerable communities.”
