Robert C. Doyle, 34, of Chester, and Ronald Beasley Chaney III, 33, were both charged with conspiracy to possess firearms after having been convicted of felonies, according to criminal complaints filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Richmond. A third man, Charles D. Halderman, 30, was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery.

“Doyle and Chaney, and others known and unknown to the FBI, ascribe to a white supremacy extremist version of the Asatru,” the federal criminal complaint reads, adding that the men “discuss[ed] acting out in furtherance of their extremist beliefs by shooting or bombing the occupants of black churches and Jewish synagogues, conducting acts of violence against persons of the Jewish faith.”

The investigation stemmed from several meetings, including one in October when Doyle and Chaney met with an undercover FBI agent posing as an illegal arms dealer. Doyle placed an order for an automatic weapon, explosives and a pistol with a silencer, the criminal complaint states. The meeting was recorded by undercover federal agents, as plans were laid to rob and kill a local silver and jewelry dealer and rob an armored car.

Doyle said he “wanted to use the proceeds from the illegal acts to purchase and stockpile weapons and train for the coming race war,” investigators said.

Then, last Sunday, Chaney met with three undercover federal agents and gave them cash for the weapons, and “handled two firearms, silencers, as well as explosives, with the intent to purchase the weapons,” the criminal complaint said. Both men were arrested and remain in custody.

A search of Doyle’s house after the arrest turned up 30 rounds of .45-caliber ammunition from a black backpack.

Federal officials say Doyle and Chaney ascribe to Asatru, an offshoot of the racist Odinist religion that emphasizes the magical elements of pre-Christian European polytheism. Its adherents are few, though it is officially recognized as a religion in Iceland, where its architects have avoided racist interpretations of its Eurocentric cosmology.