WILMINGTON, N.C. (WGHP) — A North Carolina Marine, who has been awaiting trial for his alleged involvement in plotting attacks against electrical infrastructure, was denied access to electronics this week.
Jordan Duncan, who is among a group of five men indicted or convicted in a 2020 neo-Nazi plot to attack power substations, petitioned a North Carolina Eastern District Judge for “access to a computer and external data storage drives that connect to the computer that are needed for him to assist in his defense and meaningfully review the voluminous electronic discovery in this case,” on Jan. 14, 2023.
Duncan’s representation cited the scope and intricacy of the case among their reasoning, as well as the fact that Duncan’s attorney is based out of Raleigh while he is currently incarcerated in New Hanover County Jail.
However, on Tuesday, via an oral order, the judge denied this request without prejudice, not permitting Duncan to have access to electronics.
Jordan Duncan’s next hearing is set for April 11, however, a document outlining the most recent continuation of his arraignment hearing notes “on February 8, 2023, the Government sent to the undersigned potentially more favorable framework for a non-trial resolution of the case.”
Collins, Kryscuk, Duncan, Hermanson, Mariano case
In October of 2020, Liam Collins, Paul Kryscuk and Jordan Duncan were charged with conspiracy to unlawfully manufacture, possess and distribute various weapons and weapon accessories. At the time of their arrest, the three men lived in Boise, Idaho. All of the charges came from the Eastern District of North Carolina. Collins and Duncan were both Marines stationed at Camp Lejeune. Collins was originally from New Jersey, while Duncan was from North Carolina.
In November 2020, Justin Wade Hermanson, a North Carolina man who was in the same Marine unit as Collins at Camp Lejeune, was charged with one count of conspiracy to manufacture firearms and ship interstate. After two superseding indictments, he pleaded guilty on March 8, 2022.
In June of 2021, Joseph Maurino, a New Jersey National Guardsman, was also indicted, accused of supplying untraceable guns to the other men.
In August 2021, Kryscuk, Collins, Duncan and Maurino received a third superseding indictment. They were charged with conspiracy to damage the property of a United States energy facility.
Court records show that Kryscuk is set to be sentenced on Mar. 15 and Justin Hermanson’s sentencing is set for May 23. Collins and Duncan are set to be arraigned on April 11.
Similar cases
In early 2022, three neo-Nazis, Christopher Cook, Jackson Sawall and Jonathan Frost were convicted of plotting substation attacks. Unsealed documents indicate that Cook and Sawall’s bond was revoked in early December and they were taken back into custody and had electronics seized.
The co-founder of the neo-Nazi group known as Atomwaffen Division, Brandon Russell, was arrested and charged earlier this month after he and a Maryland woman, Sarah Clendaniel, shared detailed plans to attack electrical substations around Baltimore over encrypted chat apps with an FBI informant. Russell shared a video of the attack on Moore County’s power grid as informational material with that informant, court documents allege.
The American Futurist, a website that claims to promote “revolutionary fascist ideals,” responded to Russell’s arrest, stating that they believed “Brandon had his heart in the right place,” cautioning anyone reading to not participate or discuss conspiracies with anyone.
There are still no suspects in the Moore County substation attacks in December 2022, or the shooting of an EnergyUnited substation in Randolph County in January, or the vandalism of a substation in Jones County in November 2022. The FBI is offering rewards for information in the Moore and Randolph County shootings.
