Middlesex County Man Charged with Soliciting Destruction of Energy Facilities

NEWARK, N.J. – A Middlesex County, New Jersey, man was arrested for allegedly soliciting another individual to destroy energy facilities, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger of the District of New Jersey announced today.

Andrew Takhistov, 18, of East Brunswick, New Jersey, is charged by complaint with one count of soliciting another individual to engage in criminal conduct that involved destroying a Public Service Enterprise Group (PSE&G) circuit breaker and substation. Takhistov was arrested on July 10, 2024, appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre in Newark federal court, and was detained.

“Andrew Takhistov was allegedly on his way to Ukraine to join the Russian Volunteer Corps when we arrested him on charges of recruiting an individual to destroy an electrical substation here in the United States in order to advance his white supremacist ideology,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said. “I am grateful to the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force for their exceptional work disrupting this dangerous plot.”

“Imagine the chaos and number of life-threatening emergencies if a large population of people in New Jersey lost power in the middle of the current heat wave,” FBI – Newark Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy said. “We allege Takhistov, who is only 18 years old, planned to travel overseas so he could learn lessons from Russians fighting in Ukraine on how to destroy power grids and other critical infrastructure. His alleged conversations and planned actions are chilling and were inspired by racially motivated violent extremism. Disrupting all of our lives was the goal. I want to commend the agents and detectives of the Newark Joint Terrorism Task Force, other local and state law enforcement partners, and prosecutors who moved with exceptional speed in this investigation. Their work is saving lives.”

“This defendant exemplifies the threat posed by racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism,” NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban said. “Whether in his efforts to instruct our undercover officer on how to sabotage critical infrastructure, or in his attempted travel overseas to join a National Socialist paramilitary force, he sought to advance his ideological goals through destruction and violence. The NYPD and our law enforcement partners will remain relentless in our mission to identify, investigate, and inhibit anyone who has designs on plotting acts of terror.”

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In January 2024, Takhistov began communicating on a social messaging platform with an individual who, unbeknownst to Takhistov, was an undercover law enforcement employee. Takhistov had previously posted on the messaging platform (often posting in racially/ethnically motivated extremist [RMVE]-aligned channels), requesting advice about weapons, disseminating manuals on how to construct homemade weapons, and expressing interest in traveling overseas to engage in paramilitary-style training. Throughout these posts, Takhistov referenced Adolf Hitler, encouraged violence against various ethnic and religious communities (including Black and Jewish individuals), and praised mass shooters.  

Throughout Takhistov’s communications with the undercover employee, Takhistov repeatedly referred to his RMVE ideology and his desire to advance that ideology through violent means. In May 2024, Takhistov informed the undercover employee that he was planning to travel to Ukraine in July 2024 to join the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC), explaining that he chose this organization because it was openly National Socialist and, more importantly, specialized in assassinations, attacks on power grids, and other infrastructure sabotage.

Takhistov discussed infrastructure sabotage, specifically how to damage an electrical substation using Mylar balloons, or Molotov cocktails, which Takhistov explained how to make. Takhistov told the undercover employee that, while Takhistov was in the Ukraine, the undercover employee needed to carry out at least one event of serious activism.

On two occasions in June and July 2024, at Takhistov’s direction, Takhistov and the undercover employee drove to two different electrical substations in North Brunswick and New Brunswick. During these visits, Takhistov instructed the undercover employee on numerous aspects of how to conduct an attack on an electrical substation.

On July 5, 2024, during one of these meetings, Takhistov directed the undercover employee to take several photographs of the electrical substations so that Takhistov could send them to his Russian friend for additional advice on how to best sabotage the stations.

Takhistov was arrested Wednesday afternoon at Newark Liberty International Airport where he was planning to travel to Paris, France on his way to Ukraine.

The charge of solicitation to destruct an energy facility is punishable by a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $125,000 fine.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI and task force officers of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Dennehy in Newark, and the New York City Police Department Intelligence Division, under the direction of Commissioner Caban, with the investigation leading to the arrest. He also thanked the East Brunswick Police Department, under the direction of Chief Frank LoSacco, the Milltown Police Department, under the direction of Chief Chris Johnson, the New Brunswick Police Department, under the direction of Chief Vincent Sabo, and the Port Authority Police Department, under the direction of Superintendent Edward T. Cetnar.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vera Varshavsky of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s National Security Unit and Trial Attorney James Donnelly of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Counterterrorism Section of the National Security Division. 

The charge and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.