Irvine man gets 6 years in prison for firebombing Planned Parenthood clinic
An Irvine man received six years in federal prison Thursday for firebombing a Planned Parenthood clinic in 2022 — an attack federal prosecutors have called an attempt to "scare pregnant women away from obtaining abortions."
Tibet Ergul, 22, must also pay $1,000 in restitution after pleading guilty on Feb. 29 to charges including one felony count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility and one misdemeanor count of intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility. He was also convicted of planning an attack on an electrical substation in Orange.
He and another man, Chance Brannon of San Juan Capistrano, threw a Molotov cocktail at the Orange County clinic, lighting it on fire in March 2022. Brannon, 24, was an active duty U.S. Marine at the time. He was sentenced to nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty in November to four federal charges in connection with the attack.
Earlier this month, a 21-year-old man who advised Ergul and Brannon on how to make the Molotov cocktail, received a sentence of 3 and 1/2 years in federal prison. Xavier Batten of Brooksville, Florida pleaded guilty Jan. 19 to two federal charges for his role.
Federal prosecutors have said Ergul and Brannon targeted the clinic and wanted to inspire other similar violent attacks.
"Ergul and Brannon also wanted to make a statement about abortion, scare pregnant women away from obtaining abortions, deter doctors, staff, and employees at the clinic from providing abortions, and intimidate the clinic's patients," reads a statement issued Thursday by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
The two men assembled the Molotov cocktail inside Ergul's garage on March 12, 2022, according to federal prosecutors. The following day, they drove to the Costa Mesa clinic and threw it at the clinic's entrance, lighting it on fire. Heavily damaged by the flames, the clinic was forced to temporarily close and had to reschedule the appointments of 20 patients, prosecutors said.
In June 2022, Ergul admitted in a plea agreement that he and Brannon planned to throw a Molotov cocktail at another clinic in June 2022 after the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. He said they abandoned their plot after seeing law enforcement officials near the clinic they were planning to attack.
Amir Ehsaei, acting assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office that Ergul chose "violence and destruction" when he threatened the lives of "a wide array of innocent victims with whom he disagreed ideologically."
Prosecutors said Ergul also conspired with Brannon and others in plans to use firearms or a Molotov cocktail Ergul had in his garage to attack a SoCal Edison electrical substation in Orange County — an attempt to debilitate the county's power grid. The two men consulted with another person about doing surveillance and drone operations in connection with the plans, prosecutors said.
At one point, according to prosecutors, Ergul sent Brannon a letter which read: "The rifle is in a box in my room waiting to be used in the upcoming race war" as he discussed a desire to kill journalists and politicians.
Brannon pleaded guilty to charges including one count of conspiracy, one count of malicious destruction of property by fire and explosives, one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of intentionally damaging a reproductive health services facility in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
Meanwhile, Batten pleaded guilty to one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility.
