TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An Illinois man charged with plotting to firebomb dozens of churches in northeastern Oklahoma with Molotov cocktails will be tried in federal — not state — court.

Ottawa County District Attorney Eddie Wyant says state charges against 24-year-old Gregory Arthur Weiler II of Elk Grove Village, Ill., were dropped Wednesday after Weiler was taken into federal custody.

Weiler had been jailed in Miami, Okla., since October, when authorities arrested and charged him with threatening to use an explosive or incendiary device and violating the Oklahoma Antiterrorism Act.