FBI nabs three alleged neo-Nazis with Machine Gun ahead of Virginia Gun Rally
Reuters• January 16, 2020
FBI nabs three alleged neo-Nazis with machine gun ahead of Virginia gun rally
Former Canadian military reservist Patrik Jordan Mathews poses in an undated picture provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(Reuters) - The FBI has arrested three suspected members of a neo-Nazi group who had a machine gun and hopes of sparking a U.S. race war at a planned gun-rights rally in Virginia that is expected to draw thousands of people, officials said on Thursday.
Among those arrested were a former cavalry scout in the U.S. Army and a Canadian citizen who was illegally in the United States and was a combat engineer in the Canadian Army Reserve.
The arrests came the day after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency banning any weapons around the grounds of the state capitol in Richmond, saying investigators had seen groups making threats of violence.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have been sharply criticized for not focusing enough on the threat of far-right extremism following a spate of attacks on synagogues and a 2017 white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Heads of both of those agencies have said in recent months that they were taking the threat more seriously.
Several thousand gun rights supporters are planning a large rally in Richmond, Virginia's capital, on Monday in response to the newly Democratic-controlled state legislature's push to stiffen gun laws.
Virginia, where Democrats took control of the legislature by promising stronger gun laws, has become the latest focal point for the contentious American debate around the right to bear arms. Many gun-rights groups contend the U.S. Constitution guarantees their ability to possess any firearm. Those opposed say gun laws would help lessen the number of people killed by guns each year.
According to a criminal complaint filed before the U.S. District Court for Maryland, the men arrested were Brian Mark Lemley Jr., who previously was in the U.S. Army; Patrik Jordan Mathews, a former Canadian military reservist; and William Garfield Bilbrough.
They are accused of interstate commerce of weapons, harboring illegal aliens, an alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and aiding and abetting. The FBI also said in the court filing that the men had attempted to manufacture DMT, a chemical resembling the structure of psilocybin in psychedelic mushrooms and an illegal drug under federal law.
While federal authorities can bring criminal terrorism charges against those suspected of working on behalf of foreign extremist groups like al Qaeda, they lack those tools when pursuing those affiliated with domestic extremist groups, whose views are protected by the free-speech clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The FBI said in the court filing that the three are members of the neo-Nazi group The Base. The FBI said in the court document that it had monitored encrypted chats among the group's members, in which they discussed creating a white ethno-state and carrying out acts of violence against minorities.
The men were in possession what appeared to be a fully automatic rifle, according to an FBI agent who watched the men fire the weapon at a gun range.
Shortly after firing the weapon on Jan. 2 at a Maryland gun range, Lemley told Mathews, "Oh, oops, it looks like I accidentally made a machine gun," according to the court document. The men were seen in possession of other guns, but the details were not included in the filing.
Lemley and Mathews lived together in Delaware, while Bilbrough resided in Maryland. Mathews illegally crossed over the border into the United States in August, according to the court document.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Austin, Texas, Mark Hosenball and Andy Sullivan in Washington and Gabriella Borter in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)
We have received credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies of threats of violence surrounding the demonstration planned for Monday, January 20. This includes extremist rhetoric similar to what has been seen before major incidents, such as Charlottesville in 2017.
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Fears of Charlottesville repeat as three neo-nazis - including Canadian reservist - arrested ahead of Virginia gun rights rally
Chris Riotta
The Independent 16 January 2020
National Socialist Movement members demonstrate against the LGBTQ event Motor City Pride: REUTERS
The FBI has arrested three alleged members of a
neo-nazi hate group who were reportedly anticipating a possible race war and planning to bring firearms to a major guns rights demonstration next week in
Virginia.
The three men — one of whom previously served as a trained combat engineer and explosives expert in the Canadian Army before his links to white supremacy emerged — were arrested in Maryland on Thursday morning.
Patrik Jordan Mathews, the 27-year-old former Canadian reservist and a main recruiter for the neo-nazi group, had reportedly entered the United States illegally ahead of the Virginia Citizens Defence League annual Lobby Day demonstrations set for Monday.
Brian M Lemley Jr, a 33-year-old former cavalry soldier in the US Army, was also one of the three men arrested by officials this week, along with 19-year-old William G Bilbrough. All three suspected members of the hate group known as "The Base" were expected to appear in federal court on Thursday afternoon.
The annual Lobby Day demonstrations have gained national attention by both proponents of the
Second Amendment and gun control activists after Virginia’s General Assembly advanced four sweeping gun control bills, setting the stage for a potentially contentious showdown between both sides of the ideological divide.
Virginia Governor
Ralph Northam has since declared a state of emergency and temporarily banned firearms from Capitol grounds, where the demonstrations are set to take place.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Civil Rights Defence League, told
The Independent in an interview the group’s lawyers are looking into whether the governor had the legal authority to temporarily ban firearms in a state known for its lax open carry laws.
“First of all, we don’t think it’s legal”, Mr Van Cleave said about the temporary ban. “We don’t think he has the power to do what he’s doing.”
The guns rights group has estimated as many as 100,000 demonstrators could flock to the city on Martin Luther King day for the demonstrations, and has scheduled charter buses throughout the state for its members hoping to attend the event.
In announcing the state of emergency, Mr Northam said in a statement there was credible evidence that “militia groups and hate groups, some from out of state, plan to come to the Capitol to disrupt our democratic process with acts of violence”.
“We have received credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies of threats of violence surrounding the demonstration planned for Monday, January 20”, the governor wrote on Twitter.
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He added: “This includes extremist rhetoric similar to what has been seen before major incidents, such as Charlottesville in 2017.”
The arrest of the three suspected neo-Nazis planning to attend Lobby Day was in part the result of an extensive investigation the FBI was conducting into The Base, according to the
New York Times.
Flashback:
Virginia Police Departments Equipped With Used Military Equipment
By Rachel DePompa | May 22, 2014 at 2:49 AM EDT - Updated July 2 at 10:20 AM
CAROLINE, VA (WWBT) - Virginia police are quietly stocking up on millions of dollars in leftover military equipment.
Agencies around the Commonwealth have been doing this for the better part of two decades.
For instance, we found the predecessor to the military's modern day Mine Resistant Armored Vehicle also known as a MRAP. It's often used to transport soldiers and protect them from bombs. It's 24 feet across and weighs 25,000 pounds and you might see it on the streets of Caroline County.
"It didn't cost our taxpayers anything," said Caroline County Sheriff Tony Lippa.
How's that possible? They got it through what's called the military's 1033 program.
It's first come, first served. The military gives away its unwanted or out of commission items to local police....
Virginia 20th Militia Rally (9:37)
View: https://youtu.be/GhHM9sFMy1Y
BREAKING: Virginia Declares State of Emergency (4:35)
View: https://youtu.be/g6HpCmOoIng
palmettostatearmory.com
