NY Klansman Rapped for Lethal Radiation Device

(CN) - A member of the Ku Klux Klan hailing from upstate New York faces life in prison after a jury convicted him Friday of trying to weaponize X-ray machines.

Glendon Scott Crawford, of Galway, N.Y., appeared on the FBI's radar in April 2012 after he approached local Jewish organizations to recruit like-minded co-conspirators.

Prosecutors say Crawford was looking for "people who might help him develop technology to be used against people whom he perceived to be enemies of Israel."

Crawford, now 51, was working as an industrial mechanic with General Electric at the time in Schenectady.

Investigators learned that Crawford was trying to collect money that he would use to buy and then weaponize "a commercially available X-ray machine so that it could be used to injure or kill others by exposing them to lethal doses of radiation."

Eric Feight, a co-conspirator who pleaded guilty earlier this year, helped Crawford "design, acquire the parts for, build and test a remote initiation device that could have activated the radiation machine," according to a statement from the Justice Department.

Though the X-ray device that Crawford "planned to use had been modified so that Crawford could not have used it to hurt anyone," the self-professed KKK member was envisioning a machine that could expose targets "to dangerous and lethal doses of X-ray radiation without being aware of the exposure, the harmful effects of which would likely not be immediately apparent," the DOJ said.

Prosecutors say "Crawford wanted to use the device against Muslims, and he scouted mosques in Albany and Schenectady and an Islamic community center and school in Schenectady as possible targets."

"Crawford also suggested the New York governor's mansion as a potential target," the DOJ added.

Undercover agents spoke with Crawford about his plan to place the weaponized X-ray in a van that he would park near target location, and then activate remotely.

While Feight pleaded guilty on Jan. 22, 2014, to providing material support to terrorists, Crawford faced a five-day trial in Albany.

The federal jury convicted him Friday on all charges: attempting to produce and use a radiological dispersal device; conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction; and distributing information relating to weapons of mass destruction.

The "radiological" charge carries a life sentence plus a $2 million fine. Crawford's WMD conspiracy charge carries a life sentence as well, but the information-distribution charge is punishable by 20 years in prison.

Both of those charges come with $250,000 fines.

Crawford faces sentencing on Dec. 15, 2015, before Chief U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe.

Feight is scheduled to be sentenced by Sharpe next month on Sept. 17. He faces up to 15 years of imprisonment.

U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian called Crawford "a terrorist motivated by bigotry and hate," and praised "the good judgment of citizens who quickly alerted law enforcement to his diabolical plan."

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