Idaho Man Gets 18 Years for Plotting ISIS-Inspired Attack on Coeur d'Alene Churches

A Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, man who plotted to attack churches in the name of the Islamic State has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison, the Daily Wire reported.

Alexander Scott Mercurio, now 21, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release after his prison term, according to the Daily Wire, which reported that U.S. District Judge David Nye imposed the sentence this week.

Mercurio pleaded guilty in October 2025 to attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Idaho said at the time. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.

According to prosecutors, Mercurio planned to attack churches in Coeur d'Alene on April 7, 2024, using a variety of weapons, and had purchased items for the attack. Days before, he stood in front of an ISIS flag holding a knife and pledged allegiance to the terrorist group, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Messages described in court documents showed he wanted to carry out the attack during Ramadan and on a Sunday, a day he described as special to Christians, the Daily Wire reported. He discussed using a machete and setting churches on fire, according to the Daily Wire. When agents searched his home, they found butane canisters, lighters, handcuffs, a knife and a machete, and he had planned to take guns belonging to his father, the Daily Wire reported.

EWTN News reported at the time of his arrest that he was accused of plotting to attack churches and kill Christians for ISIS.

The FBI arrested Mercurio on April 6, 2024, one day before the planned attack, according to federal prosecutors and the Daily Wire. The FBI first became aware of him while investigating a scheme to fund ISIS through cryptocurrency and linked him to an anonymous social media account, the Daily Wire reported.

The FBI led the investigation with help from the Coeur d'Alene Police Department, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office and the Ada County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

M. Scott Proctor, a senior Justice Department national security official, said Mercurio had been intent on "bringing death and destruction to several churches," according to the Daily Wire.

His lawyers had asked for a nine-year sentence, arguing that he had abandoned radical Islam and had been destabilized by a troubled family life, the Daily Wire reported. The judge imposed twice that.

It is hard to overstate what was prevented here. On an ordinary Sunday morning, families in a small Idaho city would have gathered to sing, pray and hear the Word. Prosecutors say a young man had chosen that hour, and those people, as his targets.

Americans should be grateful to the agents and local officers who stopped him a day early. Their work is a reminder that the freedom to worship is protected not only by the First Amendment but by people willing to stand watch over it.

Churches across the country have learned to think about security in ways their grandparents never imagined: trained greeters, cameras, volunteer safety teams and quiet coordination with local police. None of that diminishes the welcome a church offers. It honors it. A congregation that is safe can keep its doors open to anyone who wants to come in.

The case also points to the danger of online radicalization. Investigators found Mercurio through an anonymous social media account while chasing ISIS money moving through cryptocurrency. Parents, pastors and friends who notice a young person sliding into extremist content online should not look away.

And for Christians, the sentence is a moment for both justice and prayer: justice for a crime that could have taken many lives, and prayer that a young man who once chose hatred may yet find mercy, repentance and peace.

Mercurio will serve his sentence in federal prison, followed by supervised release for the rest of his life.