WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- A Texas man has pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up an Amazon data center in Virginia.
Prosecutors say 28-year-old Seth Aaron Pendley of Wichita Falls entered his plea before a federal magistrate judge in his hometown Wednesday.
Pendley was apolitical until he lost his job and had plenty of time to research nefarious political conspiracies, according to federal authorities.
Prosecutors previously said Pendley believed that freedom was under attack in the U.S. and that he had to help spur a civil war. He told agents he felt he had to turn to violence to stop what he believed was a coming tyrannical Marxist government.
Federal agents also said a search of Pendley’s Facebook account showed that he had boasted about being at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 assault.
John Coyle, an FBI agent who testified during the hearing, declined under cross-examination to say whether Penley had help, explaining that it is part of an ongoing FBI investigation.
Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah previously said Pendley was arrested in April after taking what he though was an explosive device from an undercover FBI agent in Fort Worth in a plot to blow up the Amazon center in Virginia because he believed it provided services to the FBI, CIA and other federal agencies.
Pendley faces a prison sentence of five to 20 years.
