White supremacist leader to plead guilty to soliciting hate crimes

(CN) — A California leader of the far-right white supremacist Terrorgram Collective on Friday agreed to plead guilty to soliciting hate crimes and soliciting the murders of federal officials, among other charges.

Dallas Humber, 35, of Elk Grove faces 25–30 years in prison under her plea agreement, the U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento said in a statement.

“Humber solicited murders and hate crimes based on the race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity of others,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kimberly Sanchez. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work tirelessly with our partners in law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute those who commit such violations of federal criminal law and keep our people and public officials safe from hate-fueled crimes of violence.”

The U.S. Justice Department in January designated the Terrorgram Collective and three of its leaders in Brazil, Croatia and South Africa as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The group is predominantly active on the Telegram social media and digital messaging platform, where it promotes violent white supremacism, solicits attacks on perceived adversaries, and provides guidance and instructional materials on tactics, methods and targets for attacks.

Humber and Matthew Allison, of Boise, Idaho, were arrested last year and charged with operating Terrorgram channels and group chats, where they solicited their adherents to commit attacks in order to achieve the group’s goals of “accelerationism” and white supremacy and provided instructions on how to carry out those attacks.

The group is linked to an October 2022 shooting outside of an LGBTQ bar in Slovakia in which two people were killed, a planned attack on energy facilities in New Jersey in July of last year, and the stabbing of five people near a mosque in Turkey in August of last year.

Humber and Allison joined Terrorgram in 2019, the Justice Department said in its indictment. By 2022, they became leaders of the group after a previous leader was arrested on terrorism charges. They ran the Terrorgram channels and group chats on Telegram and helped produce and spread various videos and publications, including “The Hard Reset,” “White Terror,” and “The List.”

The Terrorgram belief system recalls that of Islamic jihadists. Its members celebrate “saints” — white supremacists who died while carrying out attacks against people of color and LGBTQ people, an ethos used to inspire future attacks.

“The canonization of mass shooters and amplification of their messages creates an environment where aspiring attackers are increasingly willing to perpetrate violence as a way to honor previous ‘saints,’ attain sainthood themselves, and inspire future attacks,” Humber explained in a Telegram post in 2022.

She faced 15 charges, including conspiracy, multiple counts of soliciting hate crimes and soliciting the murders of federal officials, as well as “doxing” of federal officials by making their restricted private information publicly available to intimidate them, transmitting interstate threatening communications, distribution of information related to explosives, and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

Without the plea deal, Humber could have faced life in prison if convicted on all charges.

A federal public defender representing Humber didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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