Two Virginia Men Arrested in Alleged Plot to Attack Churches and Synagogues

— -- Two reputed white supremacists have been arrested in Virginia for allegedly plotting to attack black churches and Jewish synagogues, according to federal authorities.

Robert Curtis Doyle and Ronald Beasley Chaney III were arrested Sunday after a months-long investigation that sent FBI agents in to disrupt a plan allegedly already underway, according to charging documents filed in federal court.

In late September, the FBI received a tip that Doyle and Chaney would be meeting the next week to discuss a plot to shoot or bomb worshippers inside black churches and Jewish synagogues, and to attack a specific gun store owner in Oklahoma, according to the FBI.

After putting the pair under surveillance, an undercover FBI agent posing as an illegal arms dealer met with Chaney and Doyle and let them handle certain weapons, the FBI said. Doyle then allegedly placed an order for an automatic weapon, explosives and a pistol with a silencer, according to the FBI.

Though at one point Chaney raised suspicions with Doyle over whether it was all a “Fed operation ... [to] infiltrate ... our [expletive] people,” Chaney ultimately moved forward with the weapons purchase, according to the FBI.

On Sunday, Chaney tried to buy the firearms and explosives from three undercover FBI agents and he was immediately arrested, the FBI said. Doyle was arrested later Sunday at his home in Chesterfield, Virginia.

The two men have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to possess firearms after having been convicted of a felony. A preliminary and detention hearing is set for Thursday in Richmond.

Doyle was previously convicted of possessing and distributing drugs, embezzlement, and grand larceny. Chaney has also been convicted of multiple felonies, according to the FBI.