Assistant School Principal Accused of 'Chilling' Plot to Kill ICE Agents with His Brother, Which His Attorneys Deny By Christina Coulter

A Virginia assistant principal and his brother were recently caught discussing how to kill immigration officers, authorities allege, though their attorneys maintain the conversation is unsubstantiated.

Federal investigators began looking into John Wilson Bennett and Mark Booth Bennett on Nov. 17 after an off-duty Norfolk, Va., police officer overheard them planning to “kill police officers and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security this week.

Mark Bennett was also heard saying he planned to meet with “likeminded individuals” in Las Vegas to buy firearms — including rounds capable of explosive impact — to carry out the attacks, officials claim.

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On Nov. 19, Mark Bennett was arrested at Norfolk International Airport, where he was scheduled to fly to Las Vegas with a layover in Charlotte, N.C., according to DHS.

Bennett’s brother John, who is the assistant principal at Kempsville High School, was arrested the same day in Virginia Beach, DHS said.

“It’s chilling that a human being, much less a child educator, would plot to ambush and kill ICE law enforcement officers — offering such specifics as to getting a high caliber rifle that would pierce the law enforcements’ bullet proof vests,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the statement.

Both men have been charged with conspiracy to commit malicious wounding, according to DHS, both bonded out of jail at a Nov. 23 hearing per online court records. Both were released to home confinement under pretrial supervision, per DHS.

Their defense attorneys have argued in court that the conversation was hearsay and that they pose no danger to the community, according to Associated Press.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Mark’s attorney, William “Happy” O’Brien, called the case a “gross overreach by the government” and said that his client intends to plead not guilty.

According to O’Brien, the arrests were “triggered by incredibly flimsy, circumstantial information attributed to an off-duty Norfolk police officer who was sitting several booths away” at a restaurant where the brothers were eating and “law enforcement treated these statements as if they were verified fact.”

“When you examine the actual timeline of events, it becomes obvious that the Virginia Beach Police Department and the federal authorities took virtually no steps to verify, corroborate, or even meaningfully assess the credibility of these claims,” O’Brien contended.

He described Mark as “a small business owner, father of five, and college graduate. He’s lived in an established, local neighborhood with his 89-year-old mother for many years. Cases like this are precisely why we have constitutional safeguards and why due process matters.”

O’Brien also said Mark was traveling to Las Vegas for a Formula 1 race on a trip paid for by his adult son, not to obtain weapons as alleged.