Overview
- Alexander Iniguez Mercado, 20, was arrested and indicted on June 26 in Chicago on a federal obstruction charge for allegedly uninstalling Signal after an FBI call and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
- Mercado is the eighth person charged in a multi‑state probe that already led to arrests in Ohio, California, Missouri, Nebraska and Washington and that investigators say was disrupted before the June 14 UFC Freedom 250 event.
- Charging documents allege plotters planned to fly small drones loaded with explosives to force an evacuation and then target fleeing attendees with pre‑positioned snipers, claims law enforcement uncovered through seized devices and encrypted chat logs.
- Prosecutors say uninstalling Signal removed messages stored locally on Mercado’s phone and made those chats unavailable to agents, which forms the basis of the obstruction count and illustrates a key evidentiary challenge for investigators.
- Mercado pleaded not guilty at his initial appearance, a detention hearing is scheduled, prosecutions are ongoing, some alleged organizers remain at large, and the case raises questions about event security and how authorities handle encrypted communications.