US soldier Ethan Melzer, described as 'the enemy within,' sentenced for jihadist plot

Ethan Melzer, the former Army private described as "the enemy within" because he plotted with a Satanic neo-Nazi group known as O9A to kill fellow soldiers, was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison.

Melzer, 24, pleaded guilty last June to three counts: aiding and abetting the attempt to murder U.S. service members, providing material support and resources to terrorists, and illegally transmitting national defense information.

The charges accused him of attempting to plan a jihadist attack on his Army unit in the days leading up to a deployment to Turkey, by sending sensitive details to other members of the U.K.-based Order of the Nine Angles, known as O9A. The attack never came to fruition.

"At a time in May 2020, with the intent that U.S. service members be killed, I disclosed sensitive information about my Army unit's upcoming deployment to individuals I was communicating with on the online in the messaging app Telegram," Melzer admitted in court. "I'm sorry, and I regret every single thing I did."

At the time of his arrest, prosecutors said Melzer was inspired by "a diabolical cocktail of ideologies laced with hate and violence."

On Friday, uniformed troops filled the courtroom in lower Manhattan for the sentencing hearing to tell the judge of the harm Melzer caused to their deployment.

Melzer joined the Army in 2018 as part of what O9A referred to as an "insight role," and was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Hellman said Melzer's role was "to infiltrate the armed forces to gain personal training and experience while subverting the goals of the organization; here, the United States military."

"Ethan Melzer, a private in the U.S. Army, was the enemy within," Audrey Strauss, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York at the time, said when Melzer was charged.

As part of Melzer's plea deal, prosecutors took a life sentence off the table but argued that he deserved 45 years in prison.

"Ethan Melzer infiltrated the U.S. Army in service of a neo-Nazi, jihadist, Satanist group and used his membership in the military to pursue an appalling goal: the brutal murder of his own fellow U.S. service members," assistant United States Attorney Sam Adelsberg said in a sentencing memorandum.

The defense sought 15 years, citing Melzer's remorse and a childhood of "neglect and abuse" by what they said was an alcoholic, mentally ill single mother .

"To be around him now is to know his palpable remorse, his guilt, his shame," defense attorney Jonathan Marvinny, an assistant federal defender, said in a sentencing memorandum. "They are always in the room."

Melzer confessed to his role in plotting the attack, according to court records, and admitted that he intended for the planned attack to result in the deaths of as many of his fellow service members as possible.

"Melzer declared himself to be a traitor against the United States, and described his own conduct as tantamount to treason," then-FBI Assistant Director Bill Sweeney said at the time of Melzer's arrest. "We agree. He turned his back on his county and his unit while aligning himself with members of the neo-Nazi group O9A."