JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KY3) – A Missouri man has been found guilty by a federal jury for his role in a conspiracy to kill U.S. Border Patrol agents and shoot at FBI agents during his arrest.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of MissouriJonathan O’Dell, 34, of Warsaw, Missouri, was found guilty on November 7, along with a Tennessee man.
Investigators say the two men, both part of the 2nd American Militia, planned to travel to Texas to shoot at illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. They also planned to kill U.S. Border Patrol officers and employees who would try to stop them.
O’Dell and Bryan Perry of Tennessee were found guilty of conspiracy to assault federal officials and employees and conspiracy to injure federal officials and employees. They were found guilty of seven counts of attempted murder of FBI special agents, seven counts of assaulting FBI special agents with a deadly weapon, three counts of assaulting FBI special agents, 14 counts of using a firearm to furtherance of a violent crime. and one count of damaging federal property.
According to the press release, O’Dell was also found guilty of threatening to injure another person. During the trial, he also pleaded guilty to one count of illegally possessing a firearm while subject to a court order of protection, one count of making a false statement to a federal agent, and one count of escaping from custody.
He escapes from Phelps County Jail in September 2023 before he was found and arrested in Ray County, Missouri, near Kansas City. Police say a witness who knows O’Dell reported he was in possession of a stolen vehicle from Phelps County. This vehicle was also recovered during the arrest. The arresting agencies were the FBI, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Ray County Sheriff’s Office.
O’Dell and Perry founded the 2nd American Militia in 2022 and attempted to recruit others to join. The two even promoted a recruitment event in Warsaw before heading to the border.
In October 2022, FBI agents arrested O’Dell and Perry at O’Dell’s home; they used it to prepare for the journey, collecting firearms, paramilitary equipment, ammunition and other supplies.
Perry posted a video on TikTok from O’Dell’s home talking about illegal immigrants entering the United States from Mexico.
According to investigators, Perry said the U.S. Border Patrol committed treason by allowing these illegal immigrants into the United States, and that the penalty for treason was the death penalty. Perry posted another video to TikTok the next day declaring he was “ready to go to war against this administration.”
On October 7, 2022, the FBI executed a search warrant at O’Dell’s residence in the 34000 block of US 65 near Warsaw. Officers said when they arrived at the home, they came under gunfire. The officers say they did not return fire. They arrested O’Dell, Perry and another person at the house shortly later. Investigators say Perry admitted to firing the shots.
Authorities say officers responded by firing flash bangs around the home. When police told Perry to leave the house, Perry took an American flag from the front porch of the house and walked down the stairs waving the flag.
After he started walking toward the officers, Perry turned around and went back into the house. Officers chased Perry, who began fighting and waving his fists, striking the officers several times and injuring at least one officer before he was taken into custody.
Federal agents then searched the home and found six firearms, 23 magazines filled with ammunition, 1,770 rounds of assorted other ammunition, 11 spent casings, two sets of body armor with matching plate carrier vests, a portable radio, two sniper rests, two gas masks. , two ballistic helmets, multiple containers of a binary explosive mixture commonly sold as an exploding target, zip ties, and two 2nd U.S. Militia patches.
Under federal statutes, O’Dell and Perry are each subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, and up to life in federal prison without parole.
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