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Former Army private, Ethan Phelan Melzer, who was announced guilty last year for planning the murder of his own military unit members with the help of satanic neo-Nazis, has been sentenced to 45 years in jail.
The news was announced by the Justice Department on March 3. The 24-year-old, who is also known as Etil Reggad, pleaded guilty in June 2022 to charges of providing and trying to provide material support to terrorists, attempting to murder U.S. service members, and illegally passing on information from the national defense.
Melzer confessed to sharing top-secret information, including layout knowledge, security, and location of his deployment with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, with a violent, anti-government "occult-based neo-Nazi" called Order of Nine Angles.
As per Army Times, Ethan Phelan Melzer stated that his goal was to plan an insider mass fatality assault.
According to court papers, the Order of the Nine Angles, a U.K.-based anarchist group with "antisemitic and satanic views," encourages its members to join the military as well as other groups to try and dissolve them. O9A members admire Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and others.
Ethan Phelan Melzer began serving in the army in 2019
According to papers, Ethan Phelan Melzer wanted to "essentially cripple" the unit's "fire teams" with his inside knowledge.
Following the sentencing, FBI Counter Terrorism Assistant Director Robert R. Wells stated that the 24-year-old betrayed his country as well as his fellow soldiers:
“Americans serving their country overseas should never have to fear a terrorist attack from within their own ranks, and today’s sentence holds him accountable for his deadly plan to attack the brave men and women of the armed forces who protect our nation.”
Melzer joined the 173rd Airborne Brigade in June 2019 and moved to Vicenza, Italy, in October. Court papers showed that he regularly obtained and watched films on Islamist attacks and killings from radical groups like O9A and ISIS.
In May 2020, Melzer found out that his unit would guard a secret U.S. military base abroad. He received terrorism threat training and secret talks during pre-deployment workups, which he shared with Order of the Nine Angles members via private messaging apps.
Ethan Phelan Melzer shared the information with a purported al-Qaida member and promised to leak photos and radio channel frequencies upon arrival to the U.S.
On June 10, 2020, Melzer was put in prison by the FBI. During an interrogation with FBI agents, he confessed to being disloyal to the United States and revealed that he intended to cause widespread casualties among U.S. military personnel.
Ethan Phelan Melzar's sentence was announced and handed down by U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods.
His case was investigated by several agencies, including the FBI New York Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
