(JTA) — Two white supremacists who were reportedly seeking to start a race war have been arrested by the FBI.
Robert Curtis Doyle and Ronald Beasley Chaney III were arrested on Sunday for plotting to launch attacks against synagogues and African-American churches in Oklahoma and Virginia, ABC News reported.
The FBI discovered Doyle and Chaney’s plans after receiving a tip late in September that the two men would be meeting the following week to discuss plans to attack worshippers inside the houses of worship, federal court documents revealed.
They also planned to kill a local gun store owner, rob and kill a jeweler and rob an armored car, Oklahoma news channel KFOR reported.
The federal documents revealed that the men met inside a private home to discuss these matters with other members of a white supremacist version of the Asatru faith, an ancient Norse religion.
The FBI then conducted a sting mission in which an undercover agent met with Chaney and Doyle posing as an illegal arms dealer, according to ABC News. Doyle placed an order for explosives, a pistol and an automatic weapon with the undercover agent.
When Chaney attempted to buy the weapons from the undercover agent on Sunday he was arrested. The FBI then arrested Doyle at his home later in the day.
The two men have been charged on a count of conspiracy to possess firearms after having been convicted of a felony, ABC News reported.
The federal documents revealed that Doyle had previously been convicted of possessing and distributing drugs; embezzlement and grand larceny.
Chaney was convicted of malicious wounding in a case that occurred in 2006, JP Updates reported.