But after Stein was introduced to an FBI undercover employee (UCE) who the confidential source explained could provide them with automatic weapons and explosive devices, he did lay out some of their planning in a series of text messages to the UCE.

Things came to a head on October 11, 2016, when Allen’s girlfriend contacted local police about a domestic battery incident involving Allen; she also showed police a room in their residence containing a large amount of ammunition as well as components and tools used to make firearms. Allen was taken into custody, and his girlfriend voluntarily provided additional information to the FBI about a white powdery substance she witnessed being produced at Wright’s business and then being cooled in an ice bath. Law enforcement believed that was consistent with the manufacturing of a homemade explosive known as hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, or HMTD, a dangerous explosive usually used to create blasting caps for a larger explosive.

Executed search warrants on various residences, cars, storage units, and Allen’s business turned up some interesting items—including weapons, explosive material, an HMTD detonator, bomb-making documents, goggles, and bags of fertilizer. And on October 14, 2016, Allen was transferred to federal custody, and Stein and Wright were arrested. All three were charged in the plot to bomb the apartment complex.

The threatening rhetoric and actions of Stein, Allen, and Wright were so extreme they concerned members of their former militia group, one of whom even testified against them during their four-week trial. Allen’s girlfriend testified for the prosecution, as did the confidential source. The jury also heard a number of incriminating recordings of Stein, Allen, and Wright discussing, in detail, their plan to kill Muslims, and saw the back and forth text conversation between Stein and the UCE.

The jury was convinced by the evidence laid out before them—and returned a guilty verdict against the three men in April 2018 after deliberating for less than one day.

This was a challenging case to investigate—this part of Kansas is mostly rural and the kind of place where strangers would be noticed. So the assistance provided by the confidential source and Allen’s girlfriend was absolutely vital in helping law enforcement get eyes on the deadly plot and put a stop to it.

After the arrests of Stein, Allen, and Wright, FBI personnel and other law enforcement officials met with residents of the targeted apartment complex—to brief them on the plot and to assure them that they were safe. That meeting was the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship that has evolved over the past couple of years between law enforcement and the local Somali community and continues to this day.