Federal agents have taken two more men into custody for their alleged roles in a conspiracy to attack President Trump's UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House, bringing the total number of suspects facing murder conspiracy charges to seven.
William Lee Spartacus Falkner was arrested in Washington state, and Jordan W. Rincker was taken into custody in Missouri, the Associated Press reported. Both men now face federal charges tied to the June 14, 2026, plot, which authorities say involved explosive-laden drones and a planned sniper ambush on fleeing crowd members.
The arrests mark the latest expansion of an investigation that has revealed a sprawling, loosely coordinated cell of roughly 20 participants who allegedly shared encrypted messages, detailed maps, and aerial photographs of the White House grounds in the weeks before the event.
Falkner's alleged role was specific and technical. The Washington Times reported that he was tasked with manufacturing, piloting, and loading explosives onto drones for the initial phase of the attack. The plan, as outlined in court filings, called for the drones to strike the outdoor UFC event first, creating chaos before armed conspirators opened fire on people trying to flee.
Rincker's involvement took a different form. He allegedly traded a shotgun for drone-building equipment with the accused ringleader, Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, an illegal immigrant from Nebraska. That transaction, if proven, would tie Rincker directly to the material supply chain behind the drone component of the plot.
Alvarez, who authorities have identified as the conspiracy's organizer, was previously arrested and charged alongside a 19-year-old Ohio man named Tycen Proper. Both Alvarez and Proper face additional charges for conspiracy against the United States on top of the murder conspiracy counts shared by all seven defendants.
The investigation did not begin with a wiretap or an undercover agent. It started with a parent.
Breitbart reported that Proper's mother contacted police after growing alarmed by her son's firearms purchases and online communications. That tip set the FBI's investigation in motion, and agents moved to disrupt the plot before the June 14 event.
Investigators later recovered high-powered firearms and reviewed encrypted messages among the roughly 20 participants. The messages included detailed maps and aerial photos of the target area, painting a picture of a group that had moved well past idle talk and into operational planning.
The FBI has said it stopped the planned attack before anyone was harmed, but the scope of the conspiracy has only grown clearer with each new arrest.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche addressed the latest arrests in a public statement, framing them as part of an ongoing effort to identify and charge every participant in the conspiracy.
"Law enforcement continues to do what it does, move to disrupt and hold accountable those allegedly plotting to do harm on the White House Grounds on June 14."
Blanche's statement stopped short of declaring the investigation complete, leaving open the possibility that more arrests could follow. With roughly 20 people identified in the encrypted communications and only seven charged so far, the gap between those two numbers remains significant.
Proper's attorney, Joe Patituce, offered a measured response when asked about his client's situation.
"Mr. Proper appreciates the serious nature of the charges currently pending against him and will address them appropriately in court at the right time."
No attorneys for Falkner or Rincker have made public statements as of the latest reporting.
All seven defendants face murder conspiracy charges. The legal distinction between conspiracy and a completed act matters here: prosecutors must prove that the defendants agreed to carry out the killings and took concrete steps toward doing so. The firearms, drone equipment, encrypted planning messages, and aerial reconnaissance materials will likely form the backbone of that case.
For Alvarez and Proper, the additional conspiracy-against-the-United-States charges carry their own weight. That charge, rooted in 18 U.S.C. § 371, targets agreements to commit offenses against the federal government or to defraud it. It broadens the government's theory from a mass-casualty attack plan to a direct assault on federal authority.
Authorities have not publicly confirmed whether any of the remaining participants identified in the encrypted chat group will face charges. Investigators will need to determine each person's level of involvement and whether their actions crossed the line from awareness into active participation.
The plot fits a troubling pattern of threats directed at the White House and its occupants that federal law enforcement has confronted in recent months. Each incident has tested the security infrastructure around the executive mansion and raised questions about whether current protocols match the scale of the threat.
Alvarez's status as an illegal immigrant has added a politically charged dimension to the prosecution. The allegation that an individual living in the country unlawfully organized a plot to assassinate the president at a public event on White House grounds touches on border security, interior enforcement, and the vetting failures that conservatives have long warned about.
Federal authorities have not disclosed how long Alvarez had been in the country or whether he had prior contact with immigration enforcement. Those details, if they emerge during pretrial proceedings, could sharpen the political stakes around the case considerably.
The DOJ has already cited recent White House security incidents in other legal filings, suggesting the government views these events as part of a broader threat picture rather than isolated episodes.
Fox News confirmed the two new arrests and the expanded scope of the case, which now spans at least four states: Nebraska, Ohio, Washington, and Missouri. The geographic spread of the defendants underscores the decentralized nature of the alleged conspiracy, with participants who apparently connected and coordinated online rather than through any single local network.
The UFC Freedom 250 event itself was a high-profile gathering. Holding a major combat sports card on White House grounds on June 14 drew enormous public attention, and the alleged plotters appear to have viewed the crowd density and media coverage as force multipliers for their attack.
That the conspiracy allegedly called for a two-phase assault, drones first, then gunfire on fleeing spectators, suggests a level of tactical planning that goes beyond what investigators typically see in lone-actor cases. Prosecutors will need to show that this planning was shared, deliberate, and backed by overt acts from each defendant.
Investigators have not said whether any of the roughly 20 people in the encrypted group were cooperating witnesses or confidential informants. That question could shape the defense strategies of all seven charged suspects, particularly if any defendant argues entrapment or government overreach.
Authorities have also not publicly confirmed whether the drones were operational at the time of the disruption, or whether the explosives Falkner allegedly manufactured had been completed and tested. The gap between a plan on paper and a plan ready for execution will matter at trial.
No trial dates have been set. All seven defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
When a mother's phone call is the thing standing between a stadium-sized crowd and an alleged massacre on the White House lawn, the system worked. The question for federal law enforcement is whether it can keep working before the next tip comes in.
