CLEVELAND — Federal authorities have arrested and charged five men in a plot to bomb an Ohio bridge, calling them “anarchists” who are angry with the government and corporate America.
Top Row (L-R): Wright, Baxtor, Hayne Bottom Row: (L-R): Stafford, Stevens |
The arrests came Monday night after the were provided with what they believed were C-4 explosives from an FBI informant. The men had been unknowingly working with an informant for months, a similar strategy that has been employed in the past to arrest those involved in alleged terror plots.
Those arrested were: Douglas L. Wright, 26 of Indianapolis, Anthony Hayne, 35, and Joshua S. Stafford, 23, both of Cleveland, Brandon L. Baxtor, 20, of nearby Lakewood, and Connor Stevens, 20 of suburban Berea.
The men went as far as to plant the fake explosives at the base of the bridge before attempting to arm them and then heading to a safe pace where they allegedly entered codes they thought would blow up a bridge connecting two Cleveland suburbs as cars passed overhead.
The charges against the men include conspiracy and trying to bomb property used in interstate commerce, carrying sentences of 20 or more years in jail.
Different plots had been considered by the men including using smoke grenades to distract police while trying to take down financial institution signs in downtown Cleveland.
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