(WGHP) — Two people indicted on a slew of terrorism and hate-based charges made at least one direct reference to the attacks on North Carolina’s electrical infrastructure, federal court documents show.

An indictment was filed on Sept. 5, charging Dallas Erin Humber and Matthew Robert Allison with conspiracy, four counts of solicitation of hate crimes, three counts of solicitation of the murder of federal officials, three counts of doxing federal officials, interstate threatening communications, two counts of distribution of information relating to explosives and destructive devices, and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

These charges stem from Humber and Allison’s activity on what’s known as “Terrorgram.”

“‘The Terrorgram Collective,’ commonly referred to as ‘Terrorgram’ — a combination of the words ‘terrorism’ and ‘Telegram’ — is a network of channels, group chats, and users on Telegram that promote white supremacist accelerationism: an ideology centered on the belief that the white race is superior; that society is irreparably corrupt and cannot be saved by political action; and that violence and terrorism is necessary to ignite a race war and ‘accelerate’ the collapse of the government and the rise of a white ethnostate,” the indictment reads.

Notably, Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France earlier this year for allegations that “his platform is being used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, fraud and abetting organized crime transactions, and that Telegram refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law,” according to the Associated Press.

The indictment against Humber and Allison goes into depth about the activities and ideologies promoted on Terrorgram, from describing white nationalist mass murderers like the Buffalo supermarket shooter and Charleston’s Dylann Roof as “saints” for their attacks to tantalizing users with the prospect of themselves becoming saints, as well as sharing documents to help users carry out terrorist attacks on politicians and crucial infrastructure.

It also alleges that Terrorgram specifically inspired a 2022 shooting at a Slovakian gay bar that killed two and a stabbing at a Turkish mosque in August.

While Humber and Allison were not charged in any North Carolina attacks, prosecutors presented their discussions around at least one of the North Carolina shootings as evidence that they encouraged others to commit those kinds of attacks.

The documents specifically highlight a post by Humber that included a link to an article about the Jan. 17, 2023, shooting of a substation in Randolph County.

Around Jan. 20, 2023, Humber posted a link to an article about this shooting, and this message: “Everyone, please take a moment to congratulate yourselves. It seems as though this avenue of attack, an incredibly effective one at that, has really caught on. I like to think that all our hard work in detailing its effectiveness and showing our community how easy it is not only to do but to get away with, has helped encourage this. Death to the grid. Death to the System.”

You can read the full indictment here:

The Randolph County shooting was one of four recorded cases of shootings at North Carolina substations that have occurred over the past two years, including one in Jones County, a pair in Moore County and one in Durham.

North Carolina substation attacks

Jones County

On Nov. 11, 2022, in Jones County, a Carteret-Craven Electrical Cooperative substation was shot, leaving thousands without power for a few hours.

According to the release, someone shot “multiple times” at the substation in Maysville.

At the time, CCEC reported it as “criminal vandalism,” stating that 12,000 people lost power for about two hours as a result of leaking coolant, confirming it was a shooting after the Moore County shooting.

Moore County

On Dec. 3, 2022, two Duke Energy substations in Moore County were shot. One person died as a direct result of the Moore County power outage, a death that the medical examiner ruled a homicide.

Court documents released last year detail a tip officials got about a man who said his coworker claimed to be part of a right-wing group stating intention to damage the electrical grid in Moore County. They are also looking for a light-colored van that was in the area on the night of the Moore County attack.

Neither Humber nor Allison directly referenced the Moore County shooting. However, both had reportedly posted in the days following the highly-publicized shootings, encouraging others to stage similar attacks.

Roughly four days after the Moore County, Humber allegedly posted on Telegram, praising “cool and calculating Aryan soldiers” who attack “carefully chosen substations” and encouraging others to do the same.

Investigators include the full quote attributed to Humber in a section of Humber and Allison’s indictment entitled “solicitation of terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure”:

“At any given time, there are determined soldiers of this struggle out there in the night, getting ready for their attack. Planning, assessing targets, scoping them out, and everything that goes into a well-planned and precision strike. Next time your power is out, you should wonder if it will ever come back on any time soon. Maybe one of these cool and calculating Aryan soldiers put a .308 into the side of every transformer at a few carefully chosen substations. You’ll never know because they kept their mouth shut. They’re not in it for fame or glory, their only drive is bringing this System to its knees. And who knows? Maybe that person could be YOU, lining up your sights on these metal behemoths from the tree line, squeezing the trigger, and retreating from the area with a s—-eating grin on your face knowing the chaos you’ve just unleashed. Never to boast about it, never to be caught. Perhaps even to rinse and repeat.”

Around Dec. 9, the documents state that Allison posted a message on Telegram, similarly encouraging others to attack or sabotage infrastructure, and included an image of the global electrical grid.

“Try to not lose your motivation as it is the only thing that keeps you going,” Allison allegedly wrote. “When you feel like you do never forget why you started. Never forget about the brothers waiting to celebrate your attack… and never forget what has the industrial society has done to you, your people, and your tribe. Do not let those technophiles have a day of rest! Learn more about where power grids are located near you,”

On Christmas morning in 2022, a neo-Nazi banner promoting a Telegram channel was hung from a highway overpass in Cameron, a week after a similar sign was found hanging from a bridge in Vass at the start of Hannukah.

That same day, there were substation attacks in Pierce County, Washington. About a week later, Humber would post and Allison repost a photo of a Seattle Times news article entitled, “Pierce County Christmas Day substation attacks,” writing, “If two petty criminal tweakers (sic) can take out 4 substations in a day, imagine what an ambitious, fully radicalized Hard Reset and Make it Count reader like YOU can do! Just PLEASE remember to LEAVE. YOUR. PHONE. AT. HOME.”

Investigators used phone records in both the Moore County and Washington cases. In warrants unsealed months after the Moore County substation shooting, it was noted that investigators had requested phone records from AT&T and T-Mobile. This led to the questioning of a former U.S. Army Ranger who works for a power management company, according to CBS17. Phone records placed his wife’s cellphone around 900 yards away from the site of a substation, minutes before the attack. However, he initially told investigators she was in Charlotte at the time.

On Dec. 26, 2022, Humber posted images showing the components of electrical substation transformers, adding that the images were “for educational purposes only of course.”

Randolph County

Then, on Jan. 17, 2023, an EnergyUnited substation was shot in Randolph County, but no one lost power.

Early in the morning on that date, shots were fired at a substation on Post Road in Randolph County. The attack required repairs that EnergyUnited says cost upwards of $250,000 but did not knock out the power to any customers in the area.

The cooperative confirmed after the attack that they had reviewed and updated their security measures, but for security purposes did not provide specifics.

Humber posted a link to an article about this shooting around Jan. 20, 2023, celebrating that “this avenue of attack” had apparently “really caught on.”

Durham

In early June 2024, gunfire damaged Duke Energy equipment in Durham.

The FBI reported that gunfire had struck the electrical equipment in the 3900 block of Carpenter Pond Road sometime in the previous week. The shooting led to a “slow oil leak and ultimately igniting a fire,” the FBI said.

About 730 Duke Energy customers lost power for about two hours, according to the electric company.

The FBI is offering thousands in rewards for information in all of these North Carolina shootings.

Several men, including ex-Marines from Camp Lejuene and the founder of a violent accelerationist neo-Nazi sect, have been charged for similar plots to attack infrastructure in the past few years.