East Brunswick Man Accused in Plot to Destroy Middlesex County Electric Substations

NEWARK/MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NJ — An East Brunswick teenager faces federal charges, accused in a plot to destroy electric substations in Middlesex County.

Andrew Takhistov, 18, was arrested Wednesday at Newark Liberty International Airport, where he was planning to travel to Paris, France on his way to Ukraine. He appeared Thursday in federal court in Newark, where he was ordered detained.

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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news release Takhistov was on his way to Ukraine to join the Russian Volunteer Corps.

"... we arrsted him on charges of recruiting an individual to destroy an electrical substation here in the United States in order to advance his white supremacist idealogy," Garland said.

“This complaint alleges that the defendant’s posts referenced Adolf Hitler, encouraged violence against Black and Jewish communities, praised mass shooters and discussed causing death and destruction on a large scale,” U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said in a news release. “The defendant was allegedly enroute to join the Russian Volunteer Corps, which he described as specializing in assassinations, attacks on power grids, and other infrastructure sabotage, so that he could act on his violent plans."

According to court documents and statements made in court, in January 2024, Takhistov started communicating on a social media platform with an individual who was an undercover law enforcement employee. In the posts, court documents say, he encouraged violence against ethic and religious communities, including Black and Jewish individuals, and praised mass shooters.

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Takhistov is accused of telling the undercover employee, that, while Takhistov was in Ukraine, the undercover employee needed to carry out at least one event of serious activism.

Court documents say, on two occasions in June and July 2024, Takhistov and the undercover employee drove to two different electrical substations, one in North Brunswick and the other in New Brunswick. In addition, prosecutors say, Takhistov showed the undercover employee an image of a substation in Edison. Prosecutors say Takhistov told the undercover employee how to carry out an attack on an electrical subtation. On July 5, 2024, at one of the meetings, Takhistov is accused of directing the undercover employee to take pictures so Takhistov could send the pictures to a Russian friend for "additional advice on how to best sabotage the stations," according to a Thursday news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"Takhistov instructed the (underover employee) to plan every attack is if the (undercover employee) would be caught, meaning it would be the (undercover employee's) last action, and, therefore, always to cauase the most damage in one attack," according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Takhistov talked specifically about how to damage an electrical subtation using Mylar balloons or Molotov cocktails, which he told the undercover employee how to make.

"His alleged conversations and planned actions are chilling and were inspired by racially motivated violent extremism,” FBI – Newark Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy said in a news release. "Disrupting all of our lives was the goal."

Takhistov is charged with solicitation to destruct an energy facility. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $125,000 fine.

"We will not tolerate these kinds of alleged terroristic threats, and working with our partners, we will always be ready to root out and bring to justice anyone who attempts to carry out these acts," Sellinger said.

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