Two men arrested last week in southern Georgia were planning to attack an aurora research facility owned by the University of Alaska Fairbanks around which conspiracy theories of mind control have long swirled, investigators said. 
 
 Television station WALB in Georgia first reported Monday that investigators with the Coffee County Sheriff's Office arrested Michael Mancil, 30, and James Dryden Jr., 22, on Thursday and said "the massive amount of arsenal seized looked like something out of a movie, one where a small army was headed to war." 
 
 Michael Vickers, a detective with the sheriff's office, told Alaska Dispatch News that both men confessed "that God told them to go and blow this machine up that kept souls, so souls could be released." 
 
 "All I can tell you is they were planning on blowing up the machine," Vickers said. "Going to try to find a scientist, to steal his car and ID badge to gain access. Any scientist." 
 
 Vickers could not say what else the men might be charged with. 
 
 "It is being investigated and there … could be more charges pending, but as of right now, there's nothing I can tell you," he said. 
 
 Once a U.S. Air Force facility, High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program ownership last year was transferred to UAF. For many years, conspiracy theories about HAARP's capabilities for mind and weather control have persisted, to the point where the center hosted an open house in August in an effort to dispel such theories. 
 
 The program studies the properties and behavior of the Earth's ionosphere, a part of the atmosphere that can affect communication and navigation systems. 
 
 Marmian Grimes, a spokeswoman at UAF, said that while HAARP has been the target of threats before, "in the recent past there hasn't been anything quite this extreme planned." She didn't have specific details about other threats. 
 
 "We're just very glad and thankful to the law enforcement agency in Georgia for following up on that and being able to apprehend those individuals," she said. "There's lots and lots of conspiracy theories and … it's important to remember that actually this is a scientific research facility." 
 
 Among the weapons seized were AR-15 rifles, Glock handguns, a Remington rifle and thousands of rounds of ammunition, WALB reported. Authorities discovered the plot to attack HAARP after initially investigating Mancil "for possible drug sales." ||||| Investigators seized 9 different firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and other items. (Source: Coffee County Sheriff) 
 
 Officials said suspects planned to penetrate a research facility in Alaska that has been the subject of several conspiracy theories. (Source: WALB) 
 
 Two south Georgia men are accused of plotting domestic terrorism based on bizarre conspiracy theories. 
 
 Coffee County Sheriff's investigators arrested Michael Mancil, 30, and James Dryden Jr., 22, on Thursday. 
 
 Officials said the suspects planned to penetrate a research facility in Alaska that has been the subject of several conspiracy theories. 
 
 Investigators said the massive amount of arsenal seized looked like something out of a movie, one where a small army was headed to war. 
 
 But Coffee County investigators said the two Douglas men collected dozens of weapons as part of a plan to attack the High Frequency Active Aural Research Facility or HAARP. 
 
 The former U.S. Air Force lab is now owned by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 
 
 "We were really, really concerned about all the arsenal that they were piling up," said Coffee County Sheriff Doyle Wooten. 
 
 Four AR-15 rifles, four Glock hand guns, a Remington rifle and two to three thousand rounds of ammunition were found on the 200 block of Jim Road in Coffee County. 
 
 Investigators also seized radios, two flak jackets, $5,500 and a small amount of marijuana. 
 
 Investigators discovered the plot after starting to investigate Mancil for possible drug sales. 
 
 A local gun shop also alerted investigators to the fact that Mancil was trying to buy a large amount of weapons. 
 
 "He's never known to be violent. This past four to six weeks he just snapped and just changed. His whole personality changed," said Wooten. 
 
 Wooten said Mancil plotted with Dryden to destroy HAARP because they believe conspiracy theories claiming the facility manipulates the weather, controls minds and even traps the souls of people. 
 
 Officials at HAARP told us they actually study the Earth's atmosphere. 
 
 They said they've had threats before but nothing of this magnitude. 
 
 "Also are really grateful to the law enforcement agencies there in Georgia for following up on this tip and their work in making these arrests," said University of Alaska Fairbanks spokesperson Marmian Grimes. 
 
 HAARP officials have security in place to prevent such attacks. 
 
 Mancil and Dryden are charged with selling Methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime. 
 
 Mancil is also charged with use of a telecommunication device in committing or facilitating a felony. 
 
 More charges are pending. 
 
 Copyright 2016 WALB. All rights reserved. ||||| A Crofton man who owned a cache of weapons repeatedly threatened to "blow everybody up" at his former workplace and declared himself a "joker," police said, in what authorities believe is a reference to last week's mass killings during a midnight screening of"The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colo. 
 
 Neil Edwin Prescott, 28, was taken into custody at his apartment early Friday and transferred to Anne Arundel Medical Center for an emergency psychiatric evaluation, Prince George's County police said. He has not been charged with a crime, and the investigation is continuing. 
 
 Police said Saturday that Prescott has now been hospitalized, and could be there for a week. No charges are expected during the time he is being treated. 
 
 "I truly believe we saved people from being harmed," said Anne Arundel County police Chief James Teare Sr. 
 
 Officers said they found two dozen firearms — including shotguns, a tactical rifle and handguns — along with accessories and several thousand rounds of ammunition at Prescott's apartment on the 1600 block of Parkridge Circle during a search Friday. He had registered at least 13 of the guns, according to court documents. At an earlier visit, police said he had been wearing a T-shirt that read "Guns don't kill people, I do." 
 
 According to an application for the search warrant, Prescott called his former supervisor, Gary Crofoot, at mail services supplier Pitney Bowes in Capitol Heights on Monday and repeatedly said, "I am a joker. I'm going to load my guns." 
 
 He also said he wanted to "see the supervisor's brain splatter all over the sidewalk," the search warrant application says. Police confirmed that there was animosity between the two men but said the threat was directed toward "everybody." 
 
 Crofoot, who alerted police to the statements, declined to comment Friday when reached via cellphone. 
 
 The Batman allusion led police to fear a copycat killing modeled on the Aurora shooting, in which 12 people were killed and 58 wounded. The man accused in those shootings, James Holmes, had his hair dyed reddish-orange and called himself the Joker, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said. 
 
 "In light of what's recently happened, it's fairly obvious and that's how we took it," Prince George's County police Chief Mark Magaw said during a news conference Friday. 
 
 "We can't measure what was prevented here," he said, but added that a "violent episode" was likely avoided. 
 
 Prince George's County State's Attorney Angela D. Alsobrooks praised the cooperation among authorities. 
 
 "Law enforcement is all about preventing loss of life," she said in a statement. "Today's efforts are an example of the many ways we work collectively to keep our citizens safe." 
 
 Prescott has no criminal record in Maryland, according to an online court database. His only infraction was a traffic stop in 2007. He was accused of driving a 2001 Volkswagen at a speed of 42 miles per hour in a 25-mph zone on Crofton Parkway and given probation before judgment. He was described as being 6 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 270 pounds at the time. 
 
 Research shows that many atypical violent crimes covered extensively by the media attract copycats, said Dr. James McGee, retired chief of psychology at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital and former chief psychologist of the Baltimore County Police Department. 
 
 "There are a lot of people out there who are thinking about doing something," said McGee, who is not involved in the Crofton case. 
 
 When police first went to Prescott's home Thursday, he told them — through a closed door — that he had a firearm, according to police. Police said they instructed him to drop his weapon and come out, which he did, wearing the gun T-shirt. Based on his appearance and conversations with him, police said, they sought approval for the emergency evaluation and the search warrant, which they executed the next day. 
 
 Prescott had either recently been fired from his position working for a Pitney Bowes subcontractor or was in the process of being fired, according to police records. 
 
 Pitney Bowes spokeswoman Carol Wallace said in an emailed statement that Prescott had not been on company property for more than four months. He had raised alarms at the company before, she wrote. 
 
 "We have clear security protocol, and when we had concerns about this individual, we contacted authorities," Wallace wrote. She declined to answer questions, and employees at the Capitol Heights location refused to discuss Prescott or his alleged threats.
– Some men want to save our souls through religion. Two Georgia men arrested last week allegedly wanted to save them by shooting up an Alaska research facility that has been at the center of multiple conspiracy theories. Det. Michael Vickers tells the Alaska Dispatch News the men—30-year-old Michael Mancil and 22-year-old James Dryden Jr.—claim "that God told them to go and blow this machine up that kept souls, so souls could be released." Some conspiracy theorists believe the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP, can control people's minds and the weather. Vickers tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Mancil believes it keeps people's souls from getting to heaven. Last week's arrest of Mancil and Dryden started with an investigation into Mancil for allegedly dealing drugs, WALB reports. Georgia authorities believe the men were bound for Alaska when they were arrested last Thursday in South Georgia. Sheriff Doyle Wooten says the men had an "arsenal": four AR-15 rifles, four handguns, another rifle, thousands of rounds of ammo, and two flak jackets. Vickers tells the Dispatch News the men planned "to try to find a scientist, to steal his car and ID badge to gain access." A spokesperson for the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which took over HAARP from the government in 2014, says they've had threats before but nothing "quite this extreme." HAARP researches Earth's ionosphere, which has an impact on communication and navigation systems.