Terror group leader pleads guilty to recruiting hit men in plots to murder federal officials

The leader of a transnational terrorist group known as Terrorgram Collective recently pleaded guilty to all charges related to numerous terror-related plots, including the solicitation of hit men to murder federal officials and others to carry out terror plots on U.S. infrastructure.

The Justice Department said Friday the leader, Dallas Humber, of Elk Grove, Calif., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, but that the acceptance of the plea agreement with federal prosecutors has been deferred until a December 5 sentencing.

The 35-year-old Humber faces a penalty of 25 to 30 years in prison.

“Hate and terror have no place in this country or abroad,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, of the department’s Civil Rights Division. “By securing this conviction, my office makes clear that purveyors of these heinous crimes will be brought to justice.”

The group reportedly ran its operation through an instant message service.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said Terrorgram Collective promotes white supremacy, hate crimes and violence "including soliciting the murder of U.S. government officials."

He also said Humber's actions posed a "direct threat to national security."

In her plea, Humber admitted to having served as the leader of the group from July 2022 until her arrest in September 2024 and that she and other members also solicited individuals to commit hate crimes and provided "technical, inspirational and operational guidance" to help others plan, prepare for and successfully carry out the attacks.

The department said the individuals inspired and guided by Humber and the Terrorgram Collective committed or at least plotted to commit attacks in the U.S. and abroad – including plots to attack a New Jersey and a Tennessee energy facility, murdering two people in Wisconsin as part of a larger plot to assassinate a federal official and an attempt to assassinate an Australian official.

Crimes committed abroad by those recruited and led by Humber and the Terrorgram Collective include the fatal shooting of two people at an LGBT bar in Bratislava, Slovakia, and the stabbing of five people outside of a mosque in Eskişehir, Turkey, the department also said.

When Humber was arrested, federal authorities found in her possession domestic terrorist patches, Nazi paraphernalia, 3D-printed firearms, 3D printers, ammunition, trigger extenders, SIM cards and flash drives, according to The Sacramento Bee.