FBI charge two in Ohio each accused of plotting large-scale attacks

TOLEDO, OHIO — Federal authorities said they’ve charged two people involved in planning separate large-scale attacks — one who wanted to carry out a shooting at a synagogue and another who had been plotting a bar shooting and blowing up a pipeline.

While the alleged attacks were in the planning stages, there was never an immediate threat to the public, the FBI and Department of Justice said Monday in a news conference announcing the charges.

Both suspects who are from the Toledo area had identified specific places they wanted to target, authorities said.

The two have been under investigation for months and had talked about their plans with undercover FBI agents, according to the Justice Department.

“These cases demonstrate terrorism comes in many forms,” said Justin Herdman, the U.S. attorney for northern Ohio.

One involved Damon Joseph, 21, of Holland, a Toledo suburb, who spent months planning a violent attack on behalf of ISIS, and eventually settled on targeting a synagogue in the Toledo area, Herdman said.

Joseph started focusing on killing Jews after a gunman killed 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue in October, Herdman said.

Authorities said he told an undercover agent that “I admire what the guy did with the shooting actually.”

He wanted to kill as many people as possible, including a rabbi, and make sure no one escaped, the DOJ said.

Joseph was arrested Friday after he received two AR-15 rifles from an undercover agent and was charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Jeff Fortunato said it did not appear Joseph was working with anyone else.

Authorities also arrested Elizabeth Lecron, 23, of Toledo, Monday after they said she bought bomb-making materials. She was charged with transporting explosives and explosive material with the purpose of harming others.

Lecron had been talking about carrying out several different types of violent attacks, including telling undercover agents in August that she and an associate had come up with a plan to commit a mass killing at a Toledo bar, officials said.

She also discussed attacking a livestock farm, her workplace and bombing a pipeline, according to authorities .