An Ohio woman who wrote letters to convicted killer Dylann Roof received 15 years in prison Thursday for plotting an attack on a downtown Toledo bar, the Justice Department announced.
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Ohio woman who wrote to Dylann Roof sentenced to 15 years for terror plot
By Danielle Haynes
Nov. 21, 2019 at 7:37 PM
Nov. 21 (UPI) -- An Ohio woman who wrote letters to convicted killer Dylann Roof received 15 years in prison Thursday for plotting an attack on a downtown Toledo bar, the Justice Department announced.
Elizabeth Lecron, 24, pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to provide material support or resources to terrorists, and one count of transporting explosives in interstate commerce.
She and co-conspirator Victor Armstrong were arrested in December after delivering 2 pounds of muzzle-loading propellant and 665 screws for a pipe bomb to an undercover law enforcement source.
Armstrong pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport or receive an explosive with intent to kill, injure or intimidate any individual and maliciously damage or destroy by fire or explosive. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10.
During her sentencing hearing, Judge James Carr called Lecron "monstrous."
"This defendant was deadly serious about plotting for an attack on Toledo and an interstate pipeline," U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said. "She stands convicted of a terrorism offense and will spend the next fifteen years in a federal prison. When she is released, she will spend the rest of her life under intense supervision by a federal court. Today's sentence reflects the severity of her conduct and is a recognition of the continued efforts by law enforcement to protect the public from all violent threats."
According to court documents, Lecron conspired with Armstrong from April 2018 to December 2018 to conduct an attack she described in her journal as "D-Day."
"D-Day will be my salvation," she wrote, according to prosecutors.
Shortly after meeting in February 2018, Lecron told Armstrong of her interest in mass murderers and in August of that year, the two flew to Denver to visit sites related to the Columbine High School shooting of 1999, which was committed by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold resulting in 15 people dead, including the shooters. The pair also planned to visit "the church" in Charleston, S.C., meaning the church where Roof killed nine people in 2015.
The pair discussed numerous targets for their attack before deciding on a downtown Toledo bar, and coordinated the outfits they were to wear during their attack to emulate the Columbine shooters, the prosecutors said.
According to the complaint, Lecron also corresponded with Roof in prison. She sent him letters and when he asked her for books on social uprising and Nazism, she complied.
Darryl Coote contributed to this report.
