Ex-Marine sentenced for firebombing California Planned Parenthood clinic, plotting more attacks
(KTLA) – An ex-Marine from Orange County, California, has been sentenced for his role in the firebombing of a Planned Parenthood clinic.
The United States Department of Justice announced that 24-year-old Chance Brannon received a nine-year sentence for the attack.
Brannon pleaded guilty in November 2023 to conspiracy, destruction of property, and targeting a reproductive health services facility — a violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
According to the DOJ, Brannon admitted to planning attacks with two co-conspirators, 22-year-old Tibet Ergul of Irvine and 21-year-old Xavier Batten of Brooksville, Florida.
The firebombing occurred in March of 2022, while Brannon was an active-duty Marine. The Costa Mesa native and Ergul went to the Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa, ignited the Molotov cocktail, and threw it at the clinic entrance in hopes of scaring pregnant women, intimidating abortion providers from offering the procedure, and encouraging similar violent acts, the DOJ said.
Authorities say Brannon initially had numerous targets he wanted to attack, including the Anti-Defamation League in San Diego, before deciding on firebombing the Costa Mesa clinic.
Following the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark court decision Roe v. Wade, which ruled that women had a constitutional right to abortion, Brannon and Ergul began plotting another attack at a second Planned Parenthood location, federal prosecutors allege.
Brannon was motivated by neo-Nazi ideology, the DOJ said. Authorities found a thumb drive that contained several clues to the former Marine's plans. Brannon had a rifle with “Total [N-word] Death” written in Cyrillic and a recording of the 2019 mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a white supremacist murdered 51 people and injured 40 others, officials said.
According to the sentencing memorandum, Brannon possessed antisemitic writings, drawings, and literature in his bedroom at the time of his arrest and made comments to his fellow Marines, including “All Jews deserve to die.”
Brannon was also involved in planning several other attacks on targets around Southern California.
The DOJ says Brannon and Ergul formulated a plan to start a race war by severely damaging an electrical substation to disrupt the functioning of the power grid in Orange County.
Brannon and Ergul also plotted an attack on Dodger Stadium on a night celebrating LGBTQ pride. Shortly before his arrest, Brannon planned to rob several Jewish-owned homes in the Hollywood Hills, according to the DOJ.
The 24-year-old has been in custody since his arrest in June of last year. The judge in the case also ruled that Brannon must pay $1,000 in restitution.