Ethan Melzer Wiki – Bio
Ethan Melzer was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison. The former Army soldier described as “the enemy within” because he conspired with a satanic neo-Nazi group known as the O9A to kill his fellow soldiers.
Melzer, 24, pleaded guilty last June to three counts: aiding and abetting an attempt to assassinate US service members, providing material support and resources to terrorists and illegally transmitting national defense information.
Ethan Melzer Age
Ethan Melzer is 24 years old.
Devilish cocktail of ideologies mixed with hate and violence
The charges accused him of attempting to plan a jihadist attack on his Army unit in the days leading up to a deployment to Turkey, by sending confidential details to other members of the UK-based Order of Nine Angles, known as O9A. . The attack never came to fruition.
“At one point in May 2020, with the intent to kill US service members, I disclosed sensitive information about my Army unit’s upcoming deployment to people I was communicating with online on the Internet. Telegram messaging app,” Melzer admitted in court. “I’m sorry, and I regret everything I did.”
At the time of his arrest, prosecutors said Melzer was inspired by “a devilish cocktail of ideologies mixed with hate and violence.”
On Friday, uniformed troops packed a lower Manhattan courtroom for the sentencing hearing to brief the judge on the damage Melzer caused to his deployment. Melzer joined the Army in 2018 as part of what O9A called an “insight role” and was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.
Assistant US Attorney Matthew Hellman said Melzer’s role was “to infiltrate the military to gain personal training and experience while he undermined the goals of the organization—here, the United States military.” “Ethan Melzer, a private in the US Army, was the enemy within,” said Audrey Strauss, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York at the time, when she indicted Melzer.
As part of Melzer’s plea deal, prosecutors removed the life sentence, but argued that he deserved 45 years in prison.
“Ethan Melzer infiltrated the US Army in the service of a neo-Nazi, jihadist and Satanist group and used his military membership to pursue a gruesome goal: the brutal murder of his own fellow US servicemen. USA,” said Assistant United States Attorney Sam Adelsberg. he said in a sentencing memorandum.
The defense asked for 15 years, citing Melzer’s remorse and a childhood of “neglect and abuse” for what they said he was a mentally ill and alcoholic single mother.
“To be around him now is to know his palpable remorse, his guilt, his shame,” defense attorney Jonathan Marvinny, assistant federal defender, said in a sentencing memorandum. “They are always in the room.”
Melzer confessed to his role in plotting the attack, according to court records, and admitted that he intended the planned attack to result in the deaths of as many of his fellow servicemen as possible.
“Melzer declared himself treasonous against the United States and described his own conduct as tantamount to treason,” then-FBI Deputy Director Bill Sweeney said at the time of Melzer’s arrest. “We agree. He turned his back on his county and his unit while he sided with members of the neo-Nazi group O9A.”
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