Evergreen Reporter

Three men were sentenced on Thursday for various conspiracy and firearms offenses in connection with a racially-motivated scheme to destroy an energy facility.

Paul James Kryscuk, 38, of Boise, Idaho, was sentenced to six years and six months in prison for conspiracy to destroy an energy facility. Liam Collins, 25, of Johnston, Rhode Island, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for aiding and abetting the interstate transportation of unregistered firearms. Justin Wade Hermanson, 25, of Swansboro, North Carolina, was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for conspiracy to manufacture firearms and ship interstate.

“As part [of] a self-described ‘modern day SS,’ these defendants conspired, prepared, and trained to attack America’s power grid in order to advance their violent white supremacist ideology,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “These sentences reflect both the depravity of their plot and the Justice Department’s commitment to holding accountable those who seek to use violence to undermine our democracy.”

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Kryscuk, Collins, and Hermanson researched, discussed and reviewed at length a previous attack on the power grid by an unknown group. The group depicted in the attack used assault-style rifles in an attempt to explode a power substation. Between 2017 and 2020, Kryscuk manufactured firearms while Collins stole military gear, including magazines for assault-style rifles, and had them delivered to the other defendants. During that time, co-defendant Jordan Duncan gathered a library of information – some military-owned – regarding firearms, explosives, and nerve toxins and shared that information with Kryscuk and Collins. In October 2020, a handwritten list of approximately one dozen intersections and places in Idaho and surrounding states was discovered in Kryscuk’s possession.

Previously filed charges alleged that Collins and Kryscuk were members of the “Iron March” forum until its closure in late 2017. They met through the forum and expanded their group using an encrypted messaging application as an alternate means of communication outside of the forum. Collins and Kryscuk recruited additional members including Duncan; Hermanson; Joseph Maurino; conducted training sessions near Boise; recorded footage during training sessions which included propaganda content showing participants outfitted in Atomwaffen masks giving Nazi salutes beneath a black sun symbol.

The FBI along with several other federal agencies investigated this case.

Trial Attorney John Cella from the National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara Kocher & Gabriel Diaz prosecuted this case.

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