Raliegh, North Carolina - Last week, Paul James Kryscuk, 35, Liam Collins, 21, Jordan Duncan, 26, and Justin Wade Hermanson, 21, were charged via a superseding indictment obtained in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Collins and Duncan are former Marines assigned previously to Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina.
According to court documents, Collins, Kryscuk, and Duncan conspired to manufacture, transport, and sell hard to obtain firearms and firearm parts in a manner that would hide these purchases from the federal government. From May 2019 to the present, Collins made multiple money transfers through his personal account to Kryscuk to purchase firearms to include a 9mm pistol and suppressor and a short barrel rifle. In turn, Kryscuk purchased items from vendors to manufacture the firearms and suppressors. In furtherance of the crime, Kryscuk, using an alias, mailed the manufactured weapons from Idaho to Jacksonville, North Carolina. Kryscuk also shipped the short barrel rifle, not registered as required by the federal government, to Collins. Duncan, a military contractor, and Hermanson, currently a U.S. Marine, were aware of and participated in the conspiracy.
The indictment alleges that Collins and Kryscuk were members of and made multiple posts on the “Iron March” forum, a gathering point for young neo-Nazis to organize and recruit for extremist organizations, until the forum was closed in late 2017. Collins and Kryscuk met through the forum and expanded their group using an encrypted messaging application as an alternate means of communication outside of the forum. Collins and Kryscuk recruited additional members, including Duncan and Hermanson, and conducted training, including a live-fire training in the desert near Boise, Idaho. From video footage recorded by the members during the training, Kryscuk, Duncan, and others produced a montage video of their training. In the video, the participants are seen firing short barrel rifles and other assault-type rifles, and the end of the propaganda video shows the four participants outfitted in skull masks giving the “Heil Hitler” sign, beneath the image of a black sun, a Nazi symbol. The last frame bears the phrase, “Come home white man.” Prior to their arrests, Collins and Duncan had recently relocated from North Carolina and Texas, respectively, to Boise to be near Kryscuk.
All four are charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 371, conspiracy to manufacture firearms and ship them interstate; Collins, Kryscuk and Hermanson are additionally charged with violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(a) (3) and 2, interstate transportation of firearms without a license, and Collins and Kryscuk with violations of 26 U.S.C. § 5841, 5861(j), and 5871 and 2, interstate transportation of a firearm not registered as required. Collins and Kryscuk each face a maximum penalty of a combined 20 years in prison if convicted; Hermanson, a maximum penalty of a combined 10 years in prison if convicted; and Duncan, charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 371, conspiracy to manufacture firearms and ship them interstate (18 U.S.C. § 922(a) (3)), faces a maximum of 5 years in prison.
An indictment and complaint are merely accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation field offices in Salt Lake City and Charlotte with assistance from field offices in Boston, New York, and Newark, the Boise Police Department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the Eastern District of North Carolina are prosecuting the case for the government with assistance from Assistant United States Attorneys for the District of Idaho, District of New Jersey, Eastern District of New York, the District of Rhode Island and attorneys from the National Security Division.
This case falls within the purview of the Attorney General’s Task Force to Combat Violent Anti-Government Extremism. Launched in June 2020, the Task Force is dedicated to supporting the investigation and prosecution of any person or group who commits violence in the name of an anti-government ideology.