East Brunswick Man Indicted On Second Charge In PSE&G Bomb Plot: Report

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — A federal grand jury has indicted East Brunswick's Andrew Takhistov on a new charge of teaching, demonstrating or distributing information about making or using explosives, destructive devices or weapons of mass destruction for a crime of violence, according to media reports.

The new count comes in addition to Takhistov's original charge of soliciting another individual to engage in criminal conduct involving the destruction of a PSE&G circuit breaker and substation, according to NJ.com. Takhistov, now 20, was arrested in July 2024 and is accused of discussing with an undercover officer how to sabotage a PSE&G substation using Mylar balloons or Molotov cocktails.

Patch first reported on Takhistov's case in July 2024, when he was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport as he prepared to fly to Paris en route to Ukraine, where he intended to join the Russian Volunteer Corps. He was 18 at the time of his arrest.

No explosions occurred. Authorities have said Takhistov was seeking to advance his white supremacist ideology.

According to NJ.com's report on the new indictment, Takhistov and the undercover officer scoped out a PSE&G circuit breaker station in New Brunswick, and Takhistov explained how rocks attached to Mylar balloons could be floated onto power lines to cause damage.

Because the New Brunswick facility uses underground power lines, Takhistov also instructed the undercover officer on how to access the facility's roof and throw multiple Molotov cocktails onto pylons and cylinders he believed were filled with oil, according to the report.

As Patch previously reported, Takhistov began communicating with the undercover officer in January 2024 on a social messaging platform. He had previously posted requests for weapons advice, disseminated manuals on building homemade weapons, and expressed interest in traveling overseas for paramilitary-style training. In May 2024, he told the undercover officer he planned to travel to Ukraine in July to join the Russian Volunteer Corps, which he said he chose because it was openly National Socialist and specialized in assassinations and attacks on power grids.

Federal investigators said Takhistov's communications on various platforms referenced Adolf Hitler, encouraged violence against Black and Jewish communities, praised mass shooters and discussed causing death and destruction on a large scale.

Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com