Man Arrested After Allegedly Recruiting for Murder Spree
Averting what might have been one of the most serious right-wing terror sprees since a neo-Nazi group called The Order carried out a series of attacks 30 years ago, Texas FBI agents on March 27 arrested a man who was allegedly plotting to use C-4 explosives and weapons to kill police officers, rob banks, and blow up government buildings and mosques.
Alleged aspiring terrorist Robert James Talbot Jr., 38, of Katy, Texas, was held without bond on federal charges of attempted interference with commerce by robbery, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and possession of an explosive material.
Talbot, who dreamed of “restor[ing] America pre-Constitutionally” and who “look[ed] forward to stopping the Regime with action by bloodshed,” allegedly recruited followers through a Facebook page called American Insurgent Movement (AIM), seeking five or six allies who shared his belief that “[b]lood and bullets are the only two things that will change this world, short of divine action.”
Talbot’s openness about his alleged plans was his undoing. Instead of the “like-minded” individuals he sought, his online activity attracted an FBI confidential informant and two undercover FBI agents, who on March 26 provided him with inert C-4 explosives and eight other useless explosive devices he purchased for $500. FBI agents arrested Talbot the next day, after a meeting at a storage facility with the three supposed allies, who, he believed, would help him rob an armored car and “fight to stop Marxism, liberalism, Central banking Cartels and the New World Order.”
According to the testimony of FBI Special Agent Renee Cline, who is part of a domestic terrorism task force, Talbot planned to have AIM kick off its murderous spree on March 28 by going to a mosque at prayer time to “take women, children, men and shoot them.”
Cline testified that Talbot, who urged his recruits to prepare for their bloody mission by “watching violent war movies to mentally prepare for killing people,” had been banned from two militia chat rooms because the views he expressed were so violent. “I cannot take someone who doesn’t understand what war/battle is like ... that can not handle seeing body parts flying everywhere,” he allegedly wrote during an online chat with a prospective recruit.
Talbot’s thwarted plans bear a disturbing similarity to a terror spree carried out three decades ago by a neo-Nazi group called The Order, or Silent Brotherhood, whose members used a machine gun to assassinate Jewish radio talk show host Alan Berg and robbed $3.8 million from an armored car in Ukiah, Calif.
The FBI opened an investigation into Talbot’s activities in August 2013 after uncovering his plan to recruit others for terror attacks. According to court documents, he planned to rob banks to fund “Operation Liberty,” murdering “everyone working for the ‘banking Cartels’ during the heist.”
“Same goes with the Muslims,” he wrote on Facebook. “Mosques are going to be a blast! With three of my guys with FA [fully automatic] AK’s [AK-47 rifles], we will send that white house worthless piece of dirt and his Muslim brotherhood a message they will never forget.”
