LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Federal authorities said that racism and hatred drove a Louisville soldier to try to murder U.S. military service members by leaking sensitive information to neo-Nazis.
U.S. Army Private Ethan Melzer, 22, provided an occult-based neo-Nazi and white supremacist group, called the Order of the Nine Angles, with information about his Army unit’s location, movements and security, the U.S. Department of Justice said. The British neo-Nazi Satanist group encourages extreme violence in an effort to detabilize society and attempts to overthrow what it views as Jewish control of global culture and economics.
Melzer hoped the potentially deadly information would be conveyed to jihadist terrorists to facilitate a mass attack on his fellow service members, the DOJ said.
According to Fox News, Melzer purportedly told the hate group he knew he could be a casualty of the attack but wrote, "who gives a f--- ... it would be another war ... I would've died successfully ... cause another 10 year war in the Middle East would definitely leave a mark."
“As the indictment lays out, Ethan Melzer plotted a deadly ambush on his fellow soldiers in the service of a diabolical cocktail of ideologies laced with hate and violence,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers said in a news release.
Melzer was indicted on charges of conspiring and attempting to murder U.S. nationals, conspiring and attempting to murder military service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country.
Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, called Melzer an “enemy within.”
“Melzer allegedly attempted to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his own unit by unlawfully revealing its location, strength, and armaments to a neo-Nazi, anarchist, white supremacist group,” Strauss said.
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office William F. Sweeney Jr. said Melzer is a “traitor” and is facing a lifetime behind bars.
Melzer allegedly admitted his role in plotting the attack during a voluntary interview with military investigators and the FBI.
Melzer joined the U.S. Army in about 2018 and joined O9A about 2019, the DOJ said. Members of the group have exposed violent, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and Satanic beliefs and have expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and Islamic jihadists such as Osama bin Laden. The DOJ said that Melzer became radicalized by consuming propaganda from O9A and ISIS.
The indictment against Melzer was unsealed Monday in Manhattan federal court.
Copyright 2020 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
