Ray Allen Flener, Conveying False Allegations, Illinois 2014

A Sesser man has been sentenced for conveying false allegations of a terrorist plot to disrupt Election Day 2012, according to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.

Ray Allen Flener, 26, of Sesser, Illinois, was sentenced on September 10, 2014, on federal charges that he made false statements and conveyed a false threat to federal agents.

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois sentenced Flener to 48 months in federal prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, payment of a special assessment of $200.

At the change of plea hearing in April of 2014, Flener admitted that on November 2, 2012, as a detainee at the Franklin County Jail in Benton, he told a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that he had knowledge of a plan by a group called “the New World Order” to disrupt Election Day on November 6, 2012, by using weapons and explosives.

Flener’s statements were false because, as Flener knew, he had no such knowledge of weapons and explosives having been stored at that location.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Illinois State Police, the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Sheriff’s Offices of Franklin County, Williamson County, Saline County and Jackson County, and the Police Departments of Marion, West Frankfort and Johnston City.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Liam Coonan. Flener’s actions were a serious threat to public safety and the integrity of our electoral process.

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