WOOD COUNTY, W.Va. — A Wood County man is behind bars on a state charge of threatening to commit a terrorist act for allegedly plotting to overthrow West Virginia’s state government by targeting the State Capitol, State Police headquarters, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department and West Virginia National Guard facilities in Kanawha County.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Wood County Magistrate Court, Thomas David Deegan, 39, of Mineral Wells, a self-proclaimed sovereign citizen, lead several conference calls earlier this month focused on a plot to remove “multiple West Virginia government leaders from their office in Charleston.”
MORE Read detailed criminal complaint here
Those identified included Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and state Adjutant General James Hoyer, sources told MetroNews.
Plans called for members of the sovereign citizen movement, made up of people with anti-government views, to take over West Virginia’s government on Sept. 24 and use it as a foothold for the sovereign movement to “take back the United States,” according to the complaint.
“State officials became aware of information being circulated on social media and in response took appropriate steps to ensure the safety of state government officials, the National Guard, law enforcement officers and visitors to the State Capitol and other facilities,” said Lawrence Messina, communications director for the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.
With Deegan’s alleged plot, any officeholders overthrown in West Virginia would be charged with crimes including treason. At one point, Deegan allegedly claimed the punishment for such crimes would be death.
Investigators said Deegan had advised those wanting to participate to learn the layout of the target sites and promised reimbursements once the sovereign movement had “secured West Virginia” using gunfire, if necessary.
Deegan allegedly told others, “If you see the police coming and pulling up in a vehicle, I suggest you shoot them.”
Following his Wednesday arrest by State Police in Wood County, Deegan was being held Thursday in the North Central Regional Jail on $300,000 cash only bond.