‘Satanist’ soldier Jarrett William Smith, who wanted to overthrow US government, pleads guilty in bomb plot
- FBI says goal was to create ‘chaos’, attacking a news organisation as a first step
- He also wanted to fight in Ukraine with a ‘violent, far-right paramilitary group’
A 24-year-old US Army infantry soldier described by prosecutors as a Satanist who hoped to overthrow the US government pleaded guilty Monday to distributing information through social media about building a bomb and making napalm.
Jarrett William Smith, a private first class stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, and previously at Fort Bliss, Texas, admitted during a court hearing to providing information about explosives in September to an FBI undercover agent.
Smith signed a formal plea agreement with federal prosecutors and then entered his pleas verbally during a half-hour court hearing before US District Judge Daniel Crabtree. He wore an orange prison jumpsuit and black athletic shoes and alternated between “Yes” and “Yes, sir” in answering questions from Crabtree.
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“Did you provide this information with the intent that the person would use it?” Crabtree asked him.
Smith replied: “Yes”.
Smith also had faced a third felony charge of threatening to burn down the house of a far-left-leaning “antifa” member in Michigan, but that charge is to be dismissed under the plea agreement. The two other charges dealt with Smith’s actions while stationed at Fort Riley starting in July 2019.
In his plea agreement, Smith admitted that he had “disseminated guidance to others” through social media about how to build improvised explosive devices and that he spoke to others about his desire to travel to Ukraine to fight with “a violent, far-right paramilitary group”.
Assistant US Attorney Anthony Mattivi said during a court hearing in September that Smith planned to overthrow the government, with attacking a news organisation as a first step. An FBI affidavit said Smith suggested to the undercover agent targeting an unidentified major news organisation with a car bomb, and CNN reported that it was the target, citing two sources familiar with the investigation.
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The affidavit said the FBI undercover agent asked Smith if there was anyone in Texas to target for “fire, destruction and death”, and that Smith mentioned “Beto”, an apparent reference to former Texas congressman, Beto O’Rourke, who was running at the time for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The affidavit said that Smith told another FBI agent before his arrest that his goal was to create “chaos”. Mattivi said in September that Smith told the agent he distributed explosives information “for the glory of his Satanist religion”, though he provided few other details, other than saying that Smith liked “black metal” music designed to attract people to Satan.
Mattivi declined to provide further details Monday.
An FBI affidavit in September alleged that Smith discussed a plan to kill “antifa” activists and described how to build a bomb that could be triggered by calling a mobile phone. The affidavit identified the Ukrainian paramilitary group as Azov Battalion and said Smith was mentored by someone who had fought with a similar group there, Right Sector.
