WA man connected to plot to attack White House UFC event, feds say
A Western Washington man accused of conspiring to attack President Donald Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House was arrested Friday and made a first appearance Monday at the federal courthouse in Tacoma.
William Lee Spartacus Falkner, 21, of Belfair, is accused of conspiracy to commit murder. Court documents allege he communicated with co-conspirators about procuring drones and the use of explosives, according to a copy of a federal criminal complaint.
The June 14 event on the South Lawn of the White House was attended by Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio along with other administration officials, Republican leaders, business executives and mixed martial arts fans.
It coincided with Trump’s 80th birthday and Flag Day, about two weeks before the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. At the center of the event in a caged octagon, fighters punched and pummeled each other into submission under a soaring structure called the “claw.”
Two days after the fights, the Department of Justice announced that the FBI had disrupted a planned attack to kill government officials attending the event. The DOJ said it had arrested five men who allegedly plotted to deploy drones armed with explosives to force an evacuation so snipers could fire upon “high value targets” in the fleeing crowd. Those arrests were made in Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska and California.
Falkner appeared at U.S. District Court in Tacoma wearing a tan uniform. He had long brown hair that went past his shoulders. Sitting with a public defense attorney, he responded to questions from Judge Grady J. Leupold about his understanding of his rights and potential penalties with “Yes, your honor.”
At the end of the hearing, Leupold ordered that Falkner be taken into custody rather than be released with conditions pretrial.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd spoke with reporters after court adjourned. Had it not been for the intervention of federal authorities, Floyd said, alleged members of the conspiracy would have caused a “mass casualty event.”
“It targeted the highest levels of our government,” Floyd said.
The FBI identified a 31-year-old man from Omaha, Nebraska, Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, as the person responsible for organizing and directing the planned attack. He allegedly gave locations for drone launches and sniper positions to other participants in an encrypted chat app, Telegram.
Others arrested and charged were Tycen C. Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio; Bryan Omar Roa, 24, of Calimesa, California; Michael Alan Thomas, 32, of Pinon Hills, California and Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Kidder, Missouri.
Search warrants executed at some of the alleged conspirators’ homes and on their vehicles turned up rifles, tactical gear, ammunition and other firearms, according to the DOJ.
Prosecutors said law enforcement first learned of the plot when Proper’s parents alerted police to their son’s purchase of weapons and concerning online activities. As investigators reviewed cell data and online communications, they identified a number of alleged co-conspirators, including Falkner.
Prosecutor says plot aimed to overthrow U.S. government
Arguing for Falkner’s detention, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Wynne noted that after Thomas was arrested, he said the aim of the UFC attack and subsequent attacks was to create enough chaos to overthrow the U.S. government.
“That was the goal of Mr. Falkner,” Wynne said in court. “Luckily he did not arrive at that goal.”
Wynne said Falkner played a significant role in the alleged conspiracy. According to the criminal complaint, he posted in a group chat about the price of drones, the type of explosives they could carry and the range at which they would be fatal.
Falkner has lived in Western Washington for about two years, according to Wynne. He said Falkner was unemployed and had been diagnosed with mental illnesses for which he was not receiving treatment. Later in the hearing, the defendant’s attorney said Falkner had worked food service jobs in Nebraska and Washington, and that he supported his family by helping his grandmother tend to her chickens and her land. He has had no criminal convictions.
The attorney for Falkner agreed that the allegations against him were serious, but she said she believed his role in the alleged conspiracy was much smaller than the government claimed. She said she thought the fact that Falkner was not among the first five people arrested emphasized that others were perhaps the drivers of the plot.
During the hearing, an FBI agent assigned to the South Sound Joint Terrorism Task Force was called as a witness. He testified about communications between Falkner and his girlfriend. There was a dispute over whether Falkner had been honest with pretrial services about when the girlfriend moved out of his grandmother’s residence.
After a brief cross-examination, Leupold said he was inclined to agree that Falkner had been honest. But the judge said the testimony provided more evidence about Falkner’s attempts to seek his girlfriend’s participation in the alleged conspiracy.
Before Leupold ordered Falkner to remain in custody, the defendant had an opportunity to address the court. He stood and said he was fully aware of the seriousness of the charge.
“I understand that this could affect my future very greatly in very serious ways,” Falkner said. “I’m going to be real, I’ll take it on the chin. Whatever happens, happens. But I do need to be there for my grandmother.”
Leupold seemed swayed by Wynne’s argument about the alleged conspiracy aiming to overthrow the federal government. The judge said he was concerned this would provide Falkner an overwhelming incentive to flee or at least not appear for court.
The crime of conspiracy to commit murder is punishable by up to life in prison.
Details of conspiracy allegations
Investigators identified Falkner as an alleged co-conspirator while reviewing Alvarez’s Telegram account on June 16, according to the complaint. They also connected him to an Instagram account that he allegedly used to communicate about acquiring drones.
“Wanna make some money,” Falkner allegedly messaged another account on June 7.
Falkner told the other user to set up a 3D printer, according to the criminal complaint, and he said he needed five drone frames ASAP.
On June 10, Falkner allegedly communicated with another Instagram user about a “work trip.” According to the complaint, the other user told him “Please don’t go i have a really bad feeling..” Within a minute Falkner wrote back and said he also had a bad feeling, “but it has to be done.”
Investigation of other members of the alleged conspiracy found that the group appeared to be targeting members of Congress based on the belief that they had accepted money from pro-Israel lobbies.
On June 11, Thomas allegedly asked when the drones they needed were going to be picked up.
Falkner allegedly responded: “3 from Missouri, 2 from NV, maybe 2 or 3 from fort as backups. I’m in the PNW. Weird but it’s how I have my network set up. I got people in low places making them for me. The more drones the better.”
“I refuse to take chances,” Falkner also allegedly posted in a group chat. “Anything we can make at home isn’t gonna be enough. I mean there will be piles of meat, directional frag charges where the frag goes 350 m/s only really has the ballistic capability to MAYBE go through an arm or two, MAYBE through some soft armor. If you want them gone, you need something bigger than a little Ukrainian present from the sky.”
On June 18, after other alleged members of the conspiracy were arrested, Falkner allegedly told the Instagram user whom he’d been talking to about a “work trip” that it had been canceled.
“My boss got picked up,” Falkner allegedly said.
“We didn’t trust my boss to do this right going into everything,” he allegedly continued. “We all felt something was going wrong. Good news is I’m still being paid.”
This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 4:15 PM with the headline "WA man connected to plot to attack White House UFC event, feds say."
