Man pleads guilty to firebombing OC Planned Parenthood, plotting power grid attack

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A 22-year-old Irvine man pleaded guilty to firebombing a Planned Parenthood clinic in Costa Mesa and planning to attack an electrical substation in Orange, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Tibet Ergul pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to damage an energy facility and one misdemeanor count of intentional damage to a reproductive health services facility.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Ergul and his co-conspirators planned to attack the power grid in Orange County to start a race war.

The U.S. Attorney's Office also says Ergul and one other defendant admitted to plotting an attack the on the Dodger Stadium parking lot or the stadium's electrical room during last summer's LGBTQ Pride Night.

"What we saw here was a very dangerous group motivated by hate," U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said. "We had individuals who were very violent, very dangerous. They actually firebombed a Planned Parenthood clinic.

"When we did the investigation and dug in deeper into these individuals, we saw they were planning an attack on the power grid to start a race war, we saw they were planning an attack at Dodger Stadium on Pride Night."

Ergul's other co-defendant, 24-year-old Chance Brannon, was an active-duty Marine at the time of the Planned Parenthood clinic attack in Costa Mesa in 2022. They used a Molotov cocktail to damage the front of the clinic.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says Ergul has admitted that he and Brannon were planning to attack another Planned Parenthood clinic.

When it came to the attack on a power station in Orange County in March of last year, Ergul told an associate he found a substation to target, according to federal authorities.

"When I see a case like this I find it to be frightening - this type of conduct by very violent individuals, very organized individuals," Estrada said. "I also find it concerning that these individuals do not discern or discriminate in terms of the hate that they have."

Ergul is scheduled to be sentenced at the end May. He faces a maximum of 21 years in federal prison. Federal prosecutors are recommending a sentence of between five to six and a half years.