Ex-Louisville man charged with planning to attack power grid

A Tennessean man charged in connection to a plot to destroy an energy facility near Nashville allegedly admitted to undercover agents that he considered carrying out a similar plan in Louisville, according to federal court documents filed Monday.

Skyler Philippi, 24, has been arrested and charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted destruction of an energy facility. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

In a complaint filed in the Tennessee Middle District Court, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges Philippi planned to attack Nashville's power grid with an explosives-armed drone after extensively researching similar attacks in other areas of the country, including California and North Carolina.

While telling agents that he "definitely want(s) to hit Nashville, like 100 percent," Philippi is alleged to have also alluded to planning a similar power grid attack on Louisville, where he used to live.

For Louisville, Philippi allegedly told law enforcement in a secretly recorded meeting, "I spent about five months scouting out every single place [power station] and even coming up with a game plan to hit it as fast as I could. I had whole maps made, printed out on paper, to actually do that."

Court records allege Philippi also told an undercover employee "about previously getting into a shootout with an African American individual in Louisville, Kentucky," and that he believed the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, was orchestrated as an "inside job" by a Jewish person.

In that same conversation, the complaint alleges, Philippi repeated his idea of attacking several power grids across the country in order to collapse the U.S. power grid system.

Federal law enforcement say Philippi told an undercover agent about his previous affiliations with extremist groups, including the Atomwaffen Division and National Alliance. Both groups have targeted the Jewish community, and the the National Alliance specifically is a reported Neo-Nazi/white supremacist organization, according to the filed complaint.

Philippi initially became a target of federal investigation in June after a confidential source reported his alleged desire to commit a mass shooting at a YMCA facility located in or around Columbia, Tennessee, according to the complaint. Undercover agents subsequently made contact with Philippi, who allegedly began to discuss his plot to attack power grid systems.

In further conversations with agents, Philippi allegedly requested explosive-making materials and detailed a plot to carry out an attack, including how to scope out potential lookout locations, disguises to wear during the attack and how to dispose of them afterwards, and evidence destruction.

Philippi has been temporarily detained, according to court records filed Monday. A preliminary and detention hearing has been set for Nov. 13.

The Courier Journal has reached out to the DOJ for comment.

Reach reporter Rachel Smith [email protected] or @RachelSmithNews on X, formerly known as Twitter.