Former Us Soldier and Foreign Fighter Faces Court for Double Murder and Violating Neutrality Act
A former US soldier turned foreign fighter appeared in court on Monday after being captured and charged with double murder in 2018 and violating the Neutrality Act.
According to the US Department of Justice, 34-year-old Craig Austin Lang is facing various counts in North Carolina, Arizona, and Florida for a double murder, multiple violent crimes overseas, and eluding law enforcement.
“Lang went on an international crime spree that concluded in a double murder in Florida, attempts to travel internationally to engage in other acts of violence outside the United States, and a plot to evade law enforcement detection by trading guns, a grenade, and cash to use another person’s identifying information to apply for a passport under an assumed name,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Jarrett William Smith, a former Army soldier accused by federal authorities of discussing with an FBI informant a prospective bomb attack in the United States, as well as the targeting of left-leaning activists and a media organization, described Lang as his mentor.
Lang and 27-year-old Alex Jared Zwiefelhofer, both former Army soldiers, met in Ukraine, where Zwiefelhofer claimed they were members of the same volunteer brigade battling Russian separatists.
According to the Justice Department, the two men went to Kenya, where Zwiefelhofer stated they wanted to fight terrorists before trying to enter South Sudan. The Justice Department stated that both men were apprehended in South Sudan and deported to the United States, where they reunited in Florida in April 2018.
According to the indictment, a couple from Brooksville, Florida, intended to buy firearms that Lang and Zwiefelhofer advertised for sale on a website named “ARMSLIST.” Lang and Zwiefelhofer allegedly killed the couple during an armed robbery in order to take the $3,000 the couple intended to use to purchase the guns.
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The two men then used the money to pay for their trip to Venezuela, where they planned to fight the regime.
Lang and Zwiefelhofer are accused of violating the Neutrality Act, conspiring to kill, kidnap, or maim people in a foreign country, conspiring to interfere with commerce by robbery, and conspiring to discharge a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, as well as interfering with commerce by robbery and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence resulting in death. If convicted on all counts, Lang and Zwiefelhofer could face life in jail.
On March 8, a federal jury convicted Zwiefelhofer on all of the offenses listed above. His sentencing is planned for August 6.
How Lang eluded authorities in North Carolina
According to an indictment issued by the Eastern District of North Carolina in August 2019, Lang and his co-conspirators took a variety of activities in September 2018 to avoid law enforcement while traveling worldwide.
They allegedly planned a scheme to furnish Lang with two co-conspirators’ identification documents so that he and a fourth co-conspirator, Matthew Scott McCloud, could apply for passports in the United States under false names.
According to the indictment, while in North Carolina, Lang applied for a US passport under the name of one of his co-conspirators, Dameon Shae Adcock. Approximately two days later, Lang allegedly sent Adcock a suitcase containing multiple guns, a military smoke grenade, and approximately $1,500 in cash as payment for using Adcock’s personal information.
Several days later, Lang and McCloud, who had sought for a US passport under the name of co-conspirator Jordan Dean Miller, allegedly purchased airline tickets to travel from Georgia to New York and then to Ukraine.
Lang was charged with conspiracy to commit passport fraud and aggravated identity theft, passport fraud, aggravated identity theft, fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents, and aiding and abetting these offenses, as well as false representation of a social security account number.
Adcock, Miller, and McCloud were all accused in connection with the unlawful plot. If convicted, Lang faces up to 25 years in jail for the fraud counts.
Adcock pleaded guilty in November 2019 and received a two-year, eight-month prison sentence in September 2020. McCloud pleaded guilty in April 2020 and was sentenced in July 2020 to time served. Miller pleaded guilty and received a one-year probation term in May 2020.
“The alleged conduct of Craig Austin Lang, which includes homicide and armed robbery, will not be tolerated by the FBI,” said Executive Assistant Director Timothy Langan of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch.
“Those who engage in such behavior must face the repercussions of their actions. We’d want to thank our law enforcement partners for their work to ensure that criminals face justice. If you commit harm to the American people, we will pursue you mercilessly, even if you are outside our borders.”