Fmr MCpl Patrik Mathews - facing U.S. federal charges/alleged white supremacist

[The Bread Guy]

And a bit more from U.S. DOJ:

Three Alleged Members of the Violent Extremist Group “The Base” Facing Federal Firearms and Alien-Related Charges

Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal criminal complaint has been filed charging three alleged members of the racially motivated violent extremist group “The Base” with firearms and alien-related charges.  The complaint charges Brian Mark Lemley, Jr., age 33, of Elkton, Maryland, and Newark, Delaware, and William Garfield Bilbrough IV, age 19, of Denton, Maryland, with transporting and harboring aliens and conspiring to do so.  Lemley is also charged with transporting a machine gun and disposing of a firearm and ammunition to an alien unlawfully present in the United States.  Further, the complaint charges Lemley and Canadian national Patrik Jordan Mathews, age 27, currently of Newark, Delaware, with transporting a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony.  The complaint also charges Mathews with being an alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition.  The complaint was filed January 14, 2020, and was unsealed today upon their arrests by the FBI.

The defendants are expected to have initial appearances beginning at 2:45 p.m. today in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, 6400 Cherrywood Lane, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles B. Day. 

The criminal complaint was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; United States Attorney for the District of Delaware David C. Weiss; Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Rob Cekada of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division.

According to the criminal complaint, within The Base’s encrypted chat rooms, members have discussed, among other things, recruitment, creating a white ethno-state, committing acts of violence against minority communities (including African-Americans and Jewish-Americans), the organization’s military-style training camps, and ways to make improvised explosive devices.  Lemley previously served as a Cavalry Scout in the United States Army, and as of August 2019, Mathews, a Canadian citizen in the United States illegally, was a combat engineer in the Canadian Army Reserve.

The affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint alleges that on August 19, 2019, Mathews unlawfully crossed from Canada into the United States near the Manitoba/Minnesota border.  On August 30, 2019, Lemley and Bilbrough allegedly drove from Maryland to Michigan in order to pick up Mathews, and all three men returned to Maryland on August 31, 2019.

As detailed in the criminal complaint, on November 3, 2019, the three men drove from Virginia to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where Bilbrough resided.  Lemley and Mathews then continued to the area of Elkton, Maryland, where Lemley obtained a motel room for Mathews.  The following day, Lemley drove Mathews to Delaware, where Lemley rented an apartment in which the two have resided since that time.

According to the affidavit, during December 2019, Lemley and Mathews used an upper receiver ordered by Lemley, as well as other firearms parts, to make a functioning assault rifle.  Also in December, Lemley, Mathews, and Bilbrough allegedly attempted to manufacture a controlled substance, DMT, at Lemley and Mathews’s apartment.  Furthermore, Lemley, Mathews, and Bilbrough discussed The Base’s activities and spoke about other members of the organization.  Mathews also allegedly showed the assault rifle to Bilbrough, who examined the assault rifle and returned it to Mathews.

In January 2020, according to the affidavit, that Lemley and Mathews purchased approximately 1,650 rounds of 5.56mm and 6.5mm ammunition; traveled from Delaware to a gun range in Maryland, where they shot the assault rifle; and retrieved plate carriers (to support body armor) and at least some of the purchased ammunition from Lemley’s prior residence in Maryland.

If convicted, Lemley and Bilbrough each face a maximum sentence of five years for transporting and harboring certain aliens, and 10 years for conspiracy to do so.  Lemley also faces a maximum of five years in prison for transporting a machine gun in interstate commerce, and a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for disposing of a firearm and ammunition to an illegal alien.  Lemley and Mathews each face a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for transporting a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony offense.  Finally, Mathews faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for being an alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

A criminal complaint is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by criminal complaint is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

United States Attorneys Robert K. Hur and David C. Weiss commended the FBI Baltimore Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and ATF for their work in the investigation, and thanked U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland State Police, and the Delaware State Police for their assistance.  Mr. Hur and Mr. Weiss thanked their offices’ national security prosecutors, who are handling the case.

# # #​

As usual, presumed innocent until due process proves otherwise.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Rough timeline according to court docs quoted in MSM ...

... The affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint alleges a series of events:

• On Aug. 19, 2019, Mathews unlawfully crossed from Manitoba into Minnesota.

• On Aug. 30, 2019, Lemley and Bilbrough picked up Mathews in Michigan.

• On Aug. 31, 2019, Lemley and Bilbrough returned with Mathews to their homes in Maryland.

• On Nov. 3, 2019, Lemley obtained a motel room for Mathews in the area of Elkton, Maryland.

• On Nov. 4, 2019, Lemley drove Mathews to Delaware and the two moved into an apartment rented by Lemley.

• During December 2019, Lemley and Mathews make a functioning assault rifle from firearm parts ordered by Lemley.

• In January 2020, Lemley and Mathews purchased 5.56 mm and 6.5 mm ammunition and tested the assault rifle at a gun range in Maryland ...

As usual, presumed innocent until due process proves otherwise.

Edited to add:  Love 'em or hate 'em, Vice had a bit of this last month as well.

 

[The Bread Guy]

And finally, the complaint filed in January - as usual, presumed innocent until due process proves otherwise.

 

[tomahawk6]

Just made the news today.

https://apnews.com/27fa219e8157ae200455f0c1b971909c

 

[Jarnhamar]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/fbi-arrests-reveal-shocking-details-in-case-against-former-canadian-reservist-patrik-mathews/ar-BBZ58qE

Explosives expert Patrik Mathews described as incompetent, stupid and lazy. Former Nazi Base buddies thought about killing him. Guess they should have read his PERs before inviting him on down to star in a race war.

 

[The Bread Guy]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/fbi-arrests-reveal-shocking-details-in-case-against-former-canadian-reservist-patrik-mathews/ar-BBZ58qE

Explosives expert Patrik Mathews described as incompetent, stupid and lazy. Former Nazi Base buddies thought about killing him. Guess they should have read his PERs before inviting him on down to star in a race war.

Ooopsie ....

More details in the attached affadavit for the latest three rounded up (source).

 

[Jarnhamar]

Ooopsie ....

More details in the attached affadavit for the latest three rounded up (source).

Those mug shots, yikes.

If these guys are a

violent extremist group that sought to “accelerate the downfall of the United States government, incite a race war and establish a white ethno-state.”

Shouldn't trying to bring down the USA government and start a race war mean they're hit with more charges than conspiricy to commit murder and participation in a criminal street gang?

I assumed there would be some kind of terrorism charges

 

[brihard]

Those mug shots, yikes.

If these guys are a
Shouldn't trying to bring down the USA government and start a race war mean they're hit with more charges than conspiricy to commit murder and participation in a criminal street gang?

I assumed there would be some kind of terrorism charges

I just read through the affidavit- scary stuff. Sounds like they were legitimately ready to go.

The affiant is a county cop, so charges at present are likely under state criminal law. This affidavit was for the arrest warrants, and really just needed enough for the same purpose. At the end it references a sealing order until all arrests and associated search warrants are executed, so I've no doubt some doors got kicked, a bunch of computers seized, and all kinds of other stuff. Statements will have been attempted from the suspects... Lots of investigation still to happen once the arrest is made. I would be surprised if there were not further charges. I would also not be surprised if there are federal terrorism and/or hate crime charges added.

Counter terrorism work is a tough balance of intelligence and enforcement. As much as possible law enforcement is trying to learn about these groups, the individual players, and so on. In this case it looks like a plotted attack was imminent and it was necessary to act to stop it. There's a tough balance to be struck between acting to disrupt real threats or dangers, and keeping the intelligence flowing in.

In any case- it doesn't sound like The Base was too impressed with our boy. I suspect we'll see him back in Canada before too great a time has passed, as it doesn't sound like he was central to much. When *these* individuals are calling you 'incompetent' and 'a liability', that's gotta sting.

 

[Jarnhamar]

I just read through the affidavit- scary stuff. Sounds like they were legitimately ready to go.

Yup. I'm really starting to understand your views on why this stuff is such a big deal. I think you're definitely right about how dangerous these home grown terrorists are.

I've commented before about being able to pick your own gender, race and species (not even being sarcastic) but you can't decide you're a terrorist unless someone else approves it.

If these guys want to be big bad homeland terrorists, racists and anti-government I say let their charges reflect it. I know that's not how it works, but it would be nice.

Of course looking at their pictures I think they may not feel as bad ass in prison.

 

[brihard]

Yup. I'm really starting to understand your views on why this stuff is such a big deal. I think you're definitely right about how dangerous these home grown terrorists are.

I've commented before about being able to pick your own gender, race and species (not even being sarcastic) but you can't decide you're a terrorist unless someone else approves it.

If these guys want to be big bad homeland terrorists, racists and anti-government I say let their charges reflect it. I know that's not how it works, but it would be nice.

Of course looking at their pictures I think they may not feel as bad *** in prison.

Bar in mind, it looks like we got lucky in this one. This got busted by an undercover. They were able to run a UC play on the online recruitment, get a guy inside the network, and build a file on it which ultimately became not just actionable, but actually an imminent threat. They were using layered levels of access to what was ultimately a very small cell. They were using encrypted comms. It doesn't take much to make communications very difficult for intelligence and law enforcement to penetrate. There was real OPSEC awareness, and they even identified that their greatest vulnerability would be either an infiltrator or an inside who couldn't STFU. As much as these individuals were amateurish in some ways, they had at least a reasonable level of sophistication. They recognized their plan wasn't sufficiently developed, they did a live recce, and they had measures planned to counter forensic investigation.

It's a hell of a lot less resource intensive to safeguard against law enforcement action than it is for law enforcement to successfully investigate something like this. UC plays are planning and resource intensive. As soon as you're dealing with digital evidence that has encryption, that's difficult. If comms are encrypted, the utility of wiretaps / digital intercepts can diminish.

This is a huge uphill battle.

 

[Remius]

No doubt some other groups affiliated and not affiliated will be learning from this particular case.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/fbi-arrests-reveal-shocking-details-in-case-against-former-canadian-reservist-patrik-mathews/ar-BBZ58qE

Explosives expert Patrik Mathews described as incompetent, stupid and lazy. Former Nazi Base buddies thought about killing him. Guess they should have read his PERs before inviting him on down to star in a race war.

That's got to hurt, I guess he will be happy to testify against them.

 

[Cloud Cover]

Here are some pictures of him showing off his supplies and skills:

 

[Remius]

like Sean Bean’s character in Ronin...

 

[211RadOp]

Ex-reservist wished he had booby-trapped his home to blow up RCMP officers: U.S. court document

'I could really wish they f---ing all started searching my place, accidentally trip a pin, and boom,' the documents quote Patrik Mathews as saying

  Tom Blackwell Tom Blackwell
More from Tom Blackwell 

Published on: January 21, 2020 | Last Updated: January 21, 2020 10:41 PM EST

A Canadian ex-soldier and alleged white supremacist told cohorts in the U.S. that he wished he had booby-trapped his Manitoba home before RCMP searched it last year so the officers “got f—ing exploded,” say dramatic new court documents filed by American prosecutors.

Patrik Mathews and fellow alleged members of the hate group The Base also talk graphically about shooting civilians and police at an event in Richmond, Va., this week, the Canadian suggesting they could “be literally hunting people,” says the bail motion.

Unspecified intelligence about possible violence at a Richmond gun rally Monday prompted the state’s governor to declare a state of emergency around the demonstration.

Mathews, 27, and two co-defendants were arrested last week just days before the event started, with another three members of The Base picked up a day later in Georgia. Despite the presence of thousands of protesters, many toting firearms, the rally unfolded peacefully

The new court document submitted by a U.S. Attorney’s office in Maryland also details one of several videos allegedly made by Mathews. Wearing a gas mask, the former Manitoba-based reservist promotes derailing trains, murdering people and poisoning water supplies as part of a “revolution” to save the white race.

Mathews and alleged accomplices Brian Mark Lemley, 33, and William Bilbrough, 19, appear in court Wednesday for a bail hearing. Prosecutors indicate in the motion they want the trio be kept behind bars until their trial.

“The defendants in this domestic terrorism investigation must be detained,” said the memorandum. “No condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the appearance of any defendant or the safety of any other person.”

Mathews was exposed as an alleged member of The Base – a new but seemingly burgeoning group that espouses trying to trigger a race war – last August after a Winnipeg Free Press reporter infiltrated the organization.

He had been a combat engineer with a Winnipeg-based reserve unit but was released by the Armed Forces after the allegations surfaced.

RCMP later searched his home in Beausejour, Man., and briefly detained him. Soon after, he disappeared. His whereabouts were a mystery until his arrest last week.

The freshly filed motion provides more detail about the extensive U.S. police investigation, which included a “sneak-and-peak” warrant that allowed officers to enter the apartment where Mathews and Lemley stayed until their arrest.

They also installed a hidden camera and microphone in the apartment, which allegedly captured Mathews’ discussion of the RCMP raid of his home last Aug. 19.

“I could really wish they f—ing all started searching my place, accidentally trip a pin, and boom and the whole house goes boom,” the document quotes him as saying. “Boy, wouldn’t that be terrible, a bunch of f—ing RCMP search experts got f—ing exploded.”

More at link

https://www.thewhig.com/news/ex-soldier-wished-he-had-booby-trapped-manitoba-home-and-blown-up-rcmp-officers-u-s-court-document/wcm/eddb2424-18ae-4934-b3ac-f92d84dede48

 

[Jarnhamar]

I hope that guys parents aren't recieving any harassment or abuse over his stupidity.

Really gotta wonder how someone becomes such a shitty human being.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Really gotta wonder how someone becomes such a shitty human being.

By spending all their free time on internet sites that only support their warped world view, and rejecting even countenancing any other views.

 

[BeyondTheNow]

I hope that guys parents aren't recieving any harassment or abuse over his stupidity.

Really gotta wonder how someone becomes such a shitty human being.

By spending all their free time on internet sites that only support their warped world view, and rejecting even countenancing any other views.

Toxic/negative internet exposure certainly contributes, but home-grown extremists existed long before Google. I'm of the mind that unless Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder or another identifiable mental health issue is present, home life is a significant cause.

Individuals who grow up in a safe, nurturing, and stable environment with boundaries, healthy displays of respect, and are taught right from wrong, coupled with balanced levels of discipline (or at least taught there's consequences to their actions) don't randomly and/or suddenly decide they're going to go on a shooting spree, wish severe harm upon others, or blow something up. And in the extremely rare instances where they do, 9 times out of 10, the individual was showing warning signs of underlying behavioural issues long before they acted out. The parents either blew them off, were afraid to intervene and/or couldn't discern the line between giving their kid(s) a certain amount of privacy vs perhaps seeing what they're doing when gone for hours at a time; not knowing with whom, or constantly locked in their room.

I'm no picture-perfect parent, but kids don't turn into disrespectful, violent a-holes on their own. And if they're susceptible to negative influences for whatever reasons, things can usually be traced back to where the deficiency began...   

 

[OldSolduer]

Really gotta wonder how someone becomes such a shitty human being.

A number of reasons - lack of guidance from adults as a child, brain function, perhaps a mental disorder?

Added - researchers think Traumatic Brain Injury suffered as a child MAY have an effect on one's behaviour as one ages. Also, researchers think that a damaged amygdala my contribute to the behaviour of serial killers.

 

[tomahawk6]

A number of reasons - lack of guidance from adults as a child, brain function, perhaps a mental disorder?

Added - researchers think Traumatic Brain Injury suffered as a child MAY have an effect on one's behaviour as one ages. Also, researchers think that a damaged amygdala my contribute to the behaviour of serial killers.

Upbringing. Like minded people gravitate to each other.