A Florida man is now accused of helping a U.S. Marine and his accomplice line up the firebombing of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa, federal prosecutors said on Monday, July 24.
Xavier Batten was arrested on Friday after being tied by federal investigators to a March 12, 2022, clinic attack that Chance Brannon — a San Juan Capistrano resident and at the time an active duty Marine — and Tibet Ergul of Irvine were previously blamed for carrying out.
All three have been charged with conspiracy and malicious destruction of property by fire or explosion, prosecutors said. Brannon and Ergul were each also charged with possessing an unregistered destructive device and intentionally damaging a reproductive health clinic.
“This attack was not random,”U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said. “(The three men) planned a concerted effort to attack the clinic on account of the services it provided, namely reproductive-health services.”
The three men are “friends or acquaintances who got to know each other through various means, including through discussions on the internet,” Estrada told reporters during a news conference on Monday at the U.S. courthouse in Santa Ana. Asked about a motive for the attack, Estrada said the investigation is ongoing but that “there are strong indications of animus toward women.”
Both Brannon and Ergul pleaded not guilty on Monday to the charges. Their attorneys declined to comment on the allegations.
Two masked figures — later identified by authorities as Brannon and Ergul — jogged up to the Planned Parenthood during the early morning hours, ignited a Molotov cocktail and threw it against the front door of the clinic before running away, an FBI agent says in a court document based on surveillance video. The wall next to the clinic door erupted in fire, and flames spread up the wall and across the ceiling before firefighters arrived and quickly extinguished the blaze. No one was injured, but authorities say around 30 appointments were cancelled when the clinic was forced to close the following morning.
Brannon and Ergul were identified by a tipster after the FBI announced a $25,000 reward for information. The caller provided FBI officials with a text message from Ergul allegedly admitting to his role in the incident, as well as a photo of the suspected Molotov cocktail, according to court filings.
Follow-up investigation, including a search of digital devices, led agents to Batten, Estrada said.
According to the recently unsealed indictment, Brannon and Ergul targeted the property and obtained “materials necessary to build a destructive device,” with Batten advising Brannon and Ergul on how to actually construct the Molotov cocktail. Estrada also alleged that Batten “encouraged” the other two to attack the clinic.
A search of Brannon’s residence turned up suspected illegal weaponry — including a short-barreled rifle and silencers — and a search of Ergul’s garage uncovered a second Molotov cocktail, Estrada said. A prosecutor previously told a magistrate judge that neo-Nazi paraphernalia believed to belong to Brannon was found during a search.
The U.S. attorney did not say whether any of the men are believed to have ties to any extremist organizations.
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