FIRST ON FOX: Top brass at the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital the agency's Investigations unit is now on the case of a Virginia educator and his brother accused of plotting to attack ICE, potentially with explosive rounds.
Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Wednesday that Kempsville High School assistant principal John Wilson Bennett and his older brother Mark Booth Bennett were overheard at a Vietnamese restaurant in Virginia Beach allegedly conspiring to go to Nevada and plan attacks on ICE agents in retribution for what they claimed to be "kidnapping[s]" of civilians during recent immigration enforcement operations.
"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," McLaughlin said, after Fox News Digital originally reported on the adult brothers' arrest days ago.
"Thanks to Homeland Security Investigations and our partners, these men are behind bars."
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John Bennett has been faculty at the school, located in the inland part of Virginia Beach, since 2009. The school told local press that he is currently on leave.
McLaughlin said DHS worked with law enforcement at all levels after an off-duty Norfolk police officer overheard the men at a Vietnamese restaurant in Virginia Beach on Nov. 17 discussing plans to "kill police officers and ICE agents," with Mark Bennett allegedly saying he was planning to meet like-minded people in Las Vegas, where he would also purchase firearms with explosive rounds.
Two days later, Mark Bennett was arrested at Norfolk International Airport en route to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, to connect to Las Vegas. John Bennett was also arrested that day.
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McLaughlin said the case is indicative of the more-than 1,150% increase in assaults against ICE agents and 8,000-fold spike in death threats as they go about their daily work defending the homeland.
"They risk their lives every single day to remove the worst of the worst, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members. From bounties placed on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking, and doxxing online, our officers are experiencing an unprecedented level of violence and threats against them and their families," McLaughlin said.
Happy O'Brien, Mark Bennett's attorney, disputed the recounting of events, reportedly saying his client was instead flying to Nevada for a F1 (Formula One) motorsports event with his child, according to the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot.
O'Brien reportedly compared the restaurant conversation to something out of the NBC sitcom "Seinfeld" - where Jerry Seinfeld's and Jason Alexander's characters would often have varying degrees of existential conversations while having coffee at "Monk's."
Both Bennetts were charged with conspiracy to commit malicious wounding.
Fox News Digital's Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
