A former Marine, who set fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Orange County, Calif., in 2022, has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
Chance Brannon, whom authorities identified as a neo-Nazi, was an active-duty Marine when he threw a Molotov cocktail at the Costa Mesa clinic in March 2022, causing damage.
Prosecutors also claimed that Brannon planned numerous more attacks on public areas, including one on the Orange County power grid in support of a race war, another at Dodger Stadium during an LGBTQ+ Pride Night celebration, and home invasions of Jewish homes in the Los Angeles area.
He pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy, criminal destruction of property, and possession of explosives.
“Brannon’s deep-rooted hatred and extremist views inspired him to target individuals or groups who did not conform to his neo-Nazi worldview and, in one case, led him to carry out a violent attack that could have killed innocent people,” FBI Los Angeles Assistant Director Mehtab Syed said in a statement. “I’m proud of the Joint Terrorism Task Force’s hard work and collaboration, whose members built this case and apprehended Brannon before he could carry out additional acts of domestic terrorism, as well as the hard work by prosecutors and agents leading to today’s sentencing.”
According to authorities, Brannon routinely used insults against minority groups and talked about “cleansing” the country.
In the weeks before his November 2023 arrest, Brannon allegedly texted a buddy, “Can we just be done with elections and have the race war already?” and claimed that “people will never do anything if everyone keeps waiting for [a race war] to start on its own.”
Xavier Batten and Tibet Ergul, who coordinated the attacks with Brannon, have also entered guilty pleas and will receive their sentences next month.
“The Justice Department does not tolerate the use of violence to intimidate and endanger,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a statement. “This prosecution and today’s sentence hold the defendant accountable for placing lives at risk by launching a brazen attack with an explosive device against a health care facility.”
