QAnon follower who blocked bridge near Hoover Dam pleads guilty to terrorism charge

A man who, motivated by his belief in the wide-ranging conspiracy theory known as QAnon, blocked the bridge near the Hoover Dam with a homemade armored vehicle, has pleaded guilty to making a terrorist threat.

Matthew Wright, 32, who initially faced charges that could have put him in prison for the rest of his life, pleaded guilty to the terrorism charge and two other felony crimes: aggravated assault and fleeing from law enforcement. Both the terrorism and aggravated assault charges were designated non-dangerous under the plea agreement.

Under state sentencing guidelines, his presumptive sentence would amount to less than a decade in prison.

Wright’s sentencing was set for March 4 in the Mohave County Superior Courthouse in Kingman, according to a minute entry posted on the court’s website on Tuesday.

An attorney for Wright, Michael Denea, declined to comment on the case until his client was sentenced.

In June 2018, Wright blocked traffic by parking his vehicle, which held weapons and 900 rounds of ammunition, across the lanes on the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman bridge that soars 890 feet above the Colorado River and stands less than a mile from the famed dam. The Colorado River demarcates the state lines of Arizona and Nevada.

According to court records, witnesses and officers saw Wright appear to point weapons outside of the van, which had portal openings for those purposes.

In a letter from jail, Wright would write that he did these actions out of a sense of patriotism and a desire to bring what he thought were hidden truths to the public.

At one point during the standoff, Wright held a sign out of his armored van that read: “Release the OIG report.”

That, authorities said, was an apparent reference to an Office of Inspector General report into the actions of former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by President Donald Trump. An inspector general’s report about Comey had already been released. But Wright was apparently looking for the release of another document whose existence had been theorized in communications among QAnon followers.

QAnon’s conspiracy theories, hatched on various internet bulletin boards, center around a supposed government insider who adherents believe is spooning out vital revelations using cryptic language and signs. One string in the chain of theories involved Trump working with former FBI Director Robert Mueller to expose crimes involving Obama administration officials. Mueller’s investigation into Trump was a well-coordinated ruse, according to the QAnon theory.

After an hour-long standoff with officers from both Arizona and Nevada on the bridge, Wright drove to the Arizona side. Officers flattened his vehicle’s tires with stop sticks, a strip with sharp barbs. Still, Wright kept driving, court records say, until he approached a blockade of officers. He turned from the highway onto a dirt road and traveled four more miles before getting stuck in a small canyon, court records say.

He got out of the vehicle and was immediately taken into custody.

Law enforcement inspected his vehicle and found two rifles, one of which was described as assault-style, and two handguns. The vehicle also contained some 900 rounds of ammunition, records say.

The vehicle had been modified to create a living quarters in the rear portion and, according to the Wright’s mother, the unemployed Marine veteran had been living in the vehicle outside his family’s Henderson, Nevada, home for some time, court records say.

Wright was initially held on a bond of $25,000.

But a prosecutor, in arguing for a higher bond in a court motion, wrote that Wright “has taken a departure from a normal way of life.”

The prosecutor said that Wright needed to remain in custody because it was not clear exactly what led him to take these actions. “A domestic terrorist is not going to ‘get it out of his system’ on a single occasion and return to a normal, tranquil lifestyle,” the prosecutor wrote.

At a hearing about a month after the incident, prosecutors introduced two documents. The judge ordered them sealed, but said he had read them. He then raised Wright’s bond to $1 million.

Wright, in a June 2018 letter he sent to multiple state and federal law enforcement officials, described his act as the culmination of a “series of poorly constructed decisions that were based (on) emotional pain and a great … passion for our nation.” Some words in the letter were obscured by a clerk’s stamp used to mark it as part of the case file.

“I am a humble God-fearing American Patriot despite what the media may portray me as,” Wright’s July letter read.

Wright wrote that he was not a seditionist, nor did he wish to fight the government.

“I understand that the evil and corruption is limited to a select few in power and that the greater good is doing its best to combat this,” Wright wrote. “I never meant harm to my brothers and sisters. I simply wanted the truth on behalf of all Americans, all of humanity for that matter.”

Toward the end of his letter, Wright used this phrase: “For where we go one, we go all.”

The phrase is used on message boards in the QAnon community, sometimes shortened to "WWG1WGA."

Wright sent that letter to several state and federal law enforcement agencies as well as members of Nevada’s Congressional delegation.

Wright sent another letter that same June day to President Donald Trump that seemed to apologize for his actions falling short of decent behavior.

“I believe I did not represent the American people to the best of my ability and they deserve nothing but the best,” Wright wrote in the letter, which was included in the court file. “That is why we elected you Commander In Chief, in spite of those whom I will not name that were attempting to obstruct our voice.”

Wright offered his assistance to Trump should it be deemed needed. He closed that letter with the phrase, “For Where We Go One, We Go All,” and “God Bless America.”

He signed it: “A humble patriot.”