Second Missouri man charged for alleged role in plot to attack White House
A St. Joseph man was charged with conspiracy to commit murder Sunday after investigators tied him to a plot to attack the White House during an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event on June 14.
In a news release Monday, Western District of Missouri Public Affairs Specialist Candice Jamioles announced Jordan Rincker, 28, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder for his alleged role in the purported plot.
Rincker, of St. Joseph, is the second Missouri man to face federal charges relating to the reported plot. Daniel Eskridge, a 32-year-old from Kidder, Missouri, was previously charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Four additional men have been charged: 19-year-old Tycen Proper from Ohio, 24-year-old Ryan Roa from California, 32-year-old Michael Thomas from California and 31-year-old Abraham Alvarez from Nebraska.
Eskridge was identified by the FBI after reviewing encrypted social media messages on Proper’s phone revealed the group discussed “assassinating several U.S. Senators, Representatives and prominent business executives,” according to a prior news release from the DOJ.
According to a criminal complaint document filed in the Western District of Missouri Sunday, Rincker reportedly accepted $1,200 from Alvarez to disperse the cash to other co-conspirators.
Rincker allegedly sent Roa $100 to “pick up the ‘drone operator’ for the attack,” Jamioles said.
Additionally, prosecutors allege Rincker gave Alvarez a 12-gauge pump action shotgun, Jamioles said. In return, Alvarez gave Rincker a “ballistic plate, face shield, a 3D printer and supplies, night vision goggles, binoculars, a ‘wire checker’ and a minicomputer,” items investigators later found in Rincker’s home and a St. Joseph storage unit.
Jamioles said Alvarez reportedly gave Rincker the 3D printer to make drones for the planned attack.
During his arrest Sunday, Rincker allegedly told investigators he “knew why the FBI was at his house as he had seen the news reports of the other people that had been arrested,” according to an affidavit filed in support of the charges filed against Rincker.
Rincker admitted to receiving the money and items from Alvarez, the affidavit said, saying he met the man “to make a friend,” according to the affidavit.
According to investigators, Rincker said he “viewed his actions as ‘an easy come up,’ because he planned to pocket the remaining money and had opened a bank account for himself.” He said he was just giving the group “ideas to make them think” he was “building a drone.”
Rincker appeared for an initial appearance Monday, according to court records.
