Chicago Man Indicted on Obstruction Charge Tied to Alleged Plot to Attack White House UFC Event

A 20-year-old Chicago man has been arrested and indicted on an obstruction charge tied to the alleged plot to attack the June 14 UFC event on White House grounds, the Justice Department said Friday, making him at least the eighth person publicly charged in the widening multi-state federal investigation.

Alexander Iniguez Mercado, of Chicago, was indicted in the Northern District of Illinois on one count of obstruction of justice, according to the Justice Department’s June 26 announcement. The department said Mercado had an initial court appearance scheduled in Chicago on Friday. The charge carries a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors allege Mercado was an administrator or member of Signal group chats where planning discussions related to the alleged attack took place. According to the Justice Department, the obstruction case is based on allegations that Mercado uninstalled the encrypted messaging app after an FBI agent phoned him.

The case is the latest development in a national-security and public-safety investigation centered on what federal authorities describe as a plan to attack “UFC Freedom 250,” a June 14 event held on the South Lawn of the White House. President Donald J. Trump attended the event, which reporting said coincided with his 80th birthday and broader 250th-anniversary celebrations. According to Justice Department summaries of the criminal cases, the alleged plan called for explosive-laden drones to trigger an evacuation and for rooftop or sniper teams to shoot “high value targets” among people fleeing.

Friday’s announcement underscores that the investigation extends far beyond Chicago. The Justice Department said “seven other individuals from multiple states have been charged” in connection with the planning.

Earlier Justice Department announcements said five men were charged on June 16: Tycen C. Proper of Ohio; Bryan Omar Roa and Michael Alan Thomas of California; Daniel K. Eskridge of Missouri; and Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez of Nebraska. Federal prosecutors later announced two more arrests: William Lee Spartacus Falkner on June 19 in the Western District of Washington, and Jordan W. Rincker on June 21 in the Western District of Missouri.

Authorities have said the FBI first became aware of the potential threat on June 10 and moved with other agencies to identify suspects and disrupt the alleged plan before the event occurred. The investigation has involved the FBI, including Joint Terrorism Task Forces, with support from the U.S. Secret Service, multiple U.S. attorneys’ offices and local law enforcement. Earlier Justice Department filings described firearms, ammunition, tactical gear, 3D-printed parts and encrypted-chat evidence.

In Friday’s announcement, Andrew S. Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said, “Obstructing justice in a law enforcement investigation into a planned violent domestic attack is a profoundly serious offense.”

Douglas S. DePodesta, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office, said the agency’s work focuses on stopping threats before they are carried out. “The FBI’s most important responsibility of protecting the American people means that our personnel work 24/7/365 to evaluate the ever-changing threat landscape and disrupt acts of violence before they occur,” he said, according to the Justice Department.

All of the allegations remain unproven, and the federal cases are ongoing.