CA and ID - Two leaders of transnational terrorist group arrested, charged with multiple crimes

[Passeridae]

The official announcement by the Department of Justice: Leaders of Transnational Terrorist Group Charged with Soliciting Hate Crimes, Soliciting the Murder of Federal Officials, and Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Terrorists

The Justice Department announced today that Dallas Humber, 34, of Elk Grove, California, and Matthew Allison, 37, of Boise, Idaho — leaders of the Terrorgram Collective, a transnational terrorist group — were charged with a 15-count indictment for soliciting hate crimes, soliciting the murder of federal officials, and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Humber and Allison were arrested on Friday by law enforcement officials.

...

They also incited Terrorgram users to commit attacks in furtherance of white supremacist accelerationism, including the following individuals who were allegedly inspired or guided by Humber, Allison, and other members of the Terrorgram Collective to carry out attacks or were planning to do so when they were arrested by law enforcement:

• An individual who shot three people (killing two) outside of an LGBT bar in Slovakia;
• An individual who planned an attack on energy facilities in New Jersey; and
• An individual who stabbed five people near a mosque in Turkey.

Dallas Humber, at least, has been on the radar since March 2023. This HuffPo story describes how activists uncovered her identity, and gives her background. The Sacramento Dildo Saleswoman Behind A Neo-Nazi Network Advocating For Mass Shootings

Evidence compiled by a coalition of anonymous antifascist researchers — including from SoCal Research Club, @WizardAFA, @SunlightAFA and @FashFreeNW — and published this week on Left Coast Right Watch, an investigative news outlet, reveals that one of the Terrorgram Collective’s main propagandists is Dallas Erin Humber, a 33-year-old woman living in Sacramento, California.

HuffPost has corroborated the research indicating that Humber is the person behind multiple Telegram accounts associated with the Terrorgram Collective, and identifying her as the narrator of the collective’s documentaries and audiobooks.
...

Her unmasking comes not long after another Terrorgram Collective member may have been identified in court documents. Brandon Russell — the founder of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, fresh off a five-year prison stint for the unlawful storage of explosive materials — was arrested along with his girlfriend by federal authorities in Maryland earlier this month for an alleged plot to attack power stations and plunge the region into darkness. His usernames on Telegram are mentioned in federal affidavits, and archived messages show him interacting with accounts associated with Humber, the pair appearing to coordinate the release of the Terrorgram Collective’s latest propaganda.

I don't see much out there about Matthew Allison before the announcement earlier today.

EDIT: Removed some of the first quote. It's a press release and not an article and since it's from the DOJ I think it's public domain, but just in case - don't want to violate the copyright rules.

 

[Passeridae]

Here's the original story that uncovered Dallas Humber's identity last year.

HERE’S THE GORE ARTIST TURNING TERRORGRAM MANUALS & MANIFESTOS INTO AUDIOBOOKS | Left Coast Right Watch

A terrorgram propagandist has a long, sordid posting history & dates a convicted pedophile.

leftcoastrightwatch.org

IMAGES ARE NSFW.​

They're not horrible, but do feature some adult toys (her previous job was reviewing and selling them, apparently).

 

[Passeridae]

And a couple quick links on Terrorgram/the Terrorgram Collective:

A brief summary from the Anti-Defamation League: Terrorgram

The Wikipedia page on the white supremacist movement, which goes a bit more in-depth and shares attacks linked to the group (including ones not mentioned in the DOJ announcement of charges): Terrorgram - Wikipedia

A bit more on the group's connection to neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division (aka the National Socialist Resistance Front): Leaked Chats, Documents Show Atomwaffen Founder's Path to Terror Plot

And a couple of articles about the use of Telegram by hate groups generally, from the Southern Poverty Law Center. Both articles discuss Terrorgram as an example:

Year In Hate: New SPLC analysis shows extremists leveraging little-known and encrypted technology to spread dangerous messages, plot violence

www.splcenter.org

How an Encrypted Messaging Platform is Changing Extremist Movements

www.splcenter.org

 

[scapa]

Here's the original story that uncovered Dallas Humber's identity last year.

HERE’S THE GORE ARTIST TURNING TERRORGRAM MANUALS & MANIFESTOS INTO AUDIOBOOKS | Left Coast Right Watch

A terrorgram propagandist has a long, sordid posting history & dates a convicted pedophile.

leftcoastrightwatch.org

IMAGES ARE NSFW.​

They're not horrible, but do feature some adult toys (her previous job was reviewing and selling them, apparently).

Thanks for this -- excellent, well-researched and frankly terrifying article.

These two, along with their terror-mates, needed to be shut down years ago. Hopefully this one sticks.

 

[Passeridae]

Thanks for this -- excellent, well-researched and frankly terrifying article.

These two, along with their terror-mates, needed to be shut down years ago. Hopefully this one sticks.

Yeah, it's actually really concerning to me that Humber was identified and tied to this incredibly violent content last year, but it took a year and a half to get to an arrest.

And this is not a criticism of law enforcement or the system! I'm sure it took that long to gather digital evidence conclusively linking her and Allison to the crimes they were charged with, given that it seems most of it was happening on Telegram. I'm sure they were being surveilled that whole time, or maybe even earlier given their connections to Brandon Russell. I'm sure it involved either a lot of undercover work or turning informants, or both.

It's just scary that people can plan entire terrorist attacks on Telegram or other platforms without detection, while going about their normal lives. And it's a little sad that it seems like this woman - who to be clear is a monster - was so failed by the people around her as a child when she could have still been pulled out of this world, before she was involved in murder and terror plots.

 

[LadyL]

well I can see why her mother kicked her out at 18
I couldn't get through the entire article but from what I saw, she's pure evil

 

[Passeridae]

well I can see why her mother kicked her out at 18
I couldn't get through the entire article but from what I saw, she's pure evil

Unfortunately, these kinds of beliefs are not especially uncommon in this area (I live just a little south). Thankfully people tend to be more talk than action, and when they do act it tends to be more stuff like wrapping synagogue and mosque door handles in bacon or anti-LGBT protests or similar, but we had a lot of KKK and Christian Identity stuff going down like 25 years ago, including synagogue and Planned Parenthood bombings, the literal KKK burning crosses at a high school and on an overpass, and similar. Sounds like she's the right age that she would have heard about a lot of that as a pre-teen, and who knows if the adults she heard talking approved or not.

I feel like saying anything else right now would be hearsay, but I've been seeing a lot of talk in local social media channels by people who went to school with her saying that her beliefs didn't come from nothing.

ETA: To clarify, it's not like there are daily hate crimes or anything - even in the 90s when stuff was more open, most people around here were rightfully horrified by it and it definitely didn't reflect the majority. And things have overall gotten better from then. It's just hard to get rid of these elements once they've wormed their way into your community.

 

[LadyL]

Unfortunately, these kinds of beliefs are not especially uncommon in this area (I live just a little south). Thankfully people tend to be more talk than action, and when they do act it tends to be more stuff like wrapping synagogue and mosque door handles in bacon or anti-LGBT protests or similar, but we had a lot of KKK and Christian Identity stuff going down like 25 years ago, including synagogue and Planned Parenthood bombings, the literal KKK burning crosses at a high school and on an overpass, and similar. Sounds like she's the right age that she would have heard about a lot of that as a pre-teen, and who knows if the adults she heard talking approved or not.

I feel like saying anything else right now would be hearsay, but I've been seeing a lot of talk in local social media channels by people who went to school with her saying that her beliefs didn't come from nothing.

ETA: To clarify, it's not like there are daily hate crimes or anything - even in the 90s when stuff was more open, most people around here were rightfully horrified by it and it definitely didn't reflect the majority. And things have overall gotten better from then. It's just hard to get rid of these elements once they've wormed their way into your community.

I wonder in her case if there might be an element of mental illness as well.

 

[Passeridae]

I wonder in her case if there might be an element of mental illness as well.

I would suspect trauma of some kind. I don't remember which of the stories had it above, but iirc her partner started dating her when she was a minor and he was in his 30s. She also spent time homeless and was addicted to meth at some point, according to the articles.

Very "cool story, still terrorism" and she's still outright evil, but she definitely fell through a lot of cracks to get there.