A Virginia high school assistant principal and his brother are accused of discussing plans to kill immigration and law enforcement officers, according to federal authorities. Their attorneys, however, argue that the allegations are based on unreliable, secondhand information.
Federal investigators began looking into John Wilson Bennett and Mark Booth Bennett on Nov. 17, after an off-duty Norfolk, Va., police officer reported overhearing them talk about plans to “kill police officers and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Officials say Mark Bennett was also heard saying he intended to meet with “likeminded individuals” in Las Vegas to purchase firearms — including ammunition “capable of explosive impact” — to carry out the alleged attacks.
On Nov. 19, Mark Bennett was arrested at Norfolk International Airport, where he was scheduled to fly to Las Vegas with a layover in Charlotte, N.C., DHS said. His brother John, an assistant principal at Kempsville High School, was arrested the same day in Virginia Beach.
“It’s chilling that a human being, much less a child educator, would plot to ambush and kill ICE law enforcement officers — offering such specifics as to getting a high caliber rifle that would pierce the law enforcements’ bullet proof vests,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the DHS statement.
Both men have been charged with conspiracy to commit malicious wounding, according to DHS. They were granted bond at a Nov. 23 hearing and released to home confinement under pretrial supervision, per online court records.
Their defense attorneys argue the case is built on hearsay and that the brothers do not pose a danger to the community, according to the Associated Press.
In a statement, Mark Bennett’s attorney, William “Happy” O’Brien, called the prosecution a “gross overreach by the government” and said his client intends to plead not guilty.
According to O’Brien, the arrests were “triggered by incredibly flimsy, circumstantial information attributed to an off-duty Norfolk police officer who was sitting several booths away” at a restaurant where the brothers were eating, and “law enforcement treated these statements as if they were verified fact.”
“When you examine the actual timeline of events, it becomes obvious that the Virginia Beach Police Department and the federal authorities took virtually no steps to verify, corroborate, or even meaningfully assess the credibility of these claims,” O’Brien said.
He described Mark Bennett as “a small business owner, father of five, and college graduate” who has lived for years in “an established, local neighborhood” with his 89-year-old mother. “Cases like this are precisely why we have constitutional safeguards and why due process matters,” he added.
O’Brien also said Mark Bennett was traveling to Las Vegas to attend a Formula 1 race on a trip paid for by his adult son, and not to obtain weapons as alleged by authorities.
