In Depth: Tracking Alleged White Supremacists Operating In Maryland
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- At a large apartment complex in Newark, Delaware, less than one mile from the Maryland state line, neighbors say they saw several FBI agents outside one of the buildings this week.
"I really didn't think much about it, said Kyle Linderman. "One guy had an FBI logo on his clothing, but they looked pretty covert."
Neighbors say they saw FBI agents at this apartment building in Newark, Delaware. Alleged members of dangerous white supremacist group The Base called it home—and are accused of building an assault rifle and stockpiling weapons—delivered to a home in Elkton, Maryland. @wjz pic.twitter.com/wuf9Nd9CFA
— Mike Hellgren (@HellgrenWJZ) January 17, 2020
"I really didn't think much about it, said Kyle Linderman. "One guy had an FBI logo on his clothing, but they looked pretty covert."
Federal prosecutors say the apartment was home to several members of The Base, a white supremacist group that threatened violence against African Americans and Jewish Americans.
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Prosecutors say Brian Lemley, Jr. harbored a former member of the Canadian military, Patrik Mathews, at the apartment. Sources say Mathews has explosives training and the two men built an assault weapon. Prosecutors also say the men also stockpiled 1,650 rounds of ammunition according to a federal complaint WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren obtained.
"It's pretty scary," Linderman said.
FBI agents feared the men were heading to a Virginia gun rights rally scheduled for Monday. A state of emergency is in place after threats of violence.
Lemley has a listed address less than a 10-minute drive from the Newark apartment. People at the home Friday did not comment and asked WJZ to leave.
Authorities also arrested William Bilbrough IV, a 19-year-old from Denton. They say he, along with Lemley, helped pick up Mathews after he fled Canada.
There are reports police arrested other members of The Base this week.
Federal authorizes allege Lemley and Mathews tested their homemade weapon at a Maryland gun range.
Ryan Thorpe, a reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press, previously infiltrated the group. "The Base really represents the most violent fringes of the far-right hate movement today. They're not your run-of-the-mill group of racists," he told the CBC.
He said they want to destabilize society to create a race war. Thorpe said he met with Mathews who told him to buy guns and spoke of trying to derail a train in Canada.
- "These groups are not just about talk. They're about translating their views in the real-world action," Thorpe said.
- "This is someone who I saw speak openly about murdering people and committing violence against activists—who referred to famous terrorists as 'the saints.'"
All three men are expected to appear in federal court in Maryland next Wednesday.