Former soldier sentenced to 45 years for planning ‘jihadist attack’ on his Army unit

A former soldier was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Friday for planning a “jihadist attack” on his fellow soldiers in his Army unit. 

A Justice Department (DOJ) release states 24-year-old Ethan Melzer, a man from Louisville, Ky., pleaded guilty in June to trying to murder U.S. service members, providing and attempting to provide material support for terrorists and illegally transmitting national defense information. 

Court documents state Melzer planned the attack in the days before being deployed to Turkey and sent details about his unit like its location, movements and security, to a white supremacist, neo-Nazi, pro-jihadist group called the Order of the Nine Angles. 

The release states Melzer is a member of the organization, which spreads antisemitic and Satanic beliefs, pushes for violence to end Western civilization and has expressed support for Nazis like Adolf Hitler and Islamic jihadists like Osama bin Laden. 

Melzer joined the Army around 2018 in an effort to infiltrate it as a member of the order, according to the DOJ. 

After the Army told Melzer around May 2020 that he was going to be reassigned to a unit scheduled for foreign deployment, he gave information about the unit to the organization, using an encrypted messaging application to plan an attack on the other soldiers in the unit, per the department. 

The release states Melzer and his co-conspirators referred to what they were planning as a “jihadi attack” that was meant to cause a “mass casualty” event. 

Those involved also passed messages on to a purported member of al-Qaed, according to the DOJ. Melzer additionally promised to give members of his organization photos of the facility and the frequency of radio communications once he arrived at the base. 

The release states Melzer said he was willing to die in the attack because “another 10 year war in the Middle East would definitely leave a mark” and the attack would further the organization’s goals. He told his co-conspirators that he deleted some messages in their communications because the plan would be treason.