Three alleged members of the white supremacist organization The Base have been indicted on federal firearm- and alien-related charges in Delaware and Maryland.
A grand jury in Maryland charged William G. Bilbrough IV of Denton, Maryland with transporting and harboring an alien and conspiring to do so.
Brian M. Lemley, Jr., and Canadian national Patrik J. Mathews—who lived in Newark, Delaware for several months— were indicted in Delaware and Maryland on immigration and firearm charges, including some related to an unregistered machine gun. They are also charged in Delaware with trying to obstruct justice by allegedly destroying their cell phones before they were arrested.
The two allegedly built a functioning assault rifle in Newark and gathered rations, ammunition and radio supplies there in anticipation of a “civil war” they hoped would begin during the gun-rights rally in Richmond earlier this month.
All three men were arrested several days before the rally, which ended peacefully.
In a statement, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware David C. Weiss commended the FBI Baltimore Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their work in the investigation.
