Judge: Canadian Man Tied To Extremist Group Is 'Very Dangerous'
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Three alleged members of the white supremacist group "The Base" were hoping that the gun rights rally in Virginia would spark a civil war, according to court records.
Brian Lemley, Jr. and William Garfield Bilbrough IV, both of Maryland, and Canadian national Patrik Jordan Mathews were charged on Jan. 16 on federal firearms charges ahead of the Richmond rally that took place on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
READ: Charging Docs: U.S. versus Lemley, Mathews, Bilbrough
"Derail some f***ing trains, kill some people, and poison some water supplies. You better be f***ing ready to do those things," Mathews allegedly said, according to a video he created on December 1, in which he is wearing a gas mask to distort his voice and hide his face. "If you want the white race to survive, you're going to have to do your f***ing part."
The government had been watching the men on CCTV cameras that had been set up inside Lemley's Newark, Delaware, apartment before their arrest.
The trio appeared in court on Wednesday.
"One man's domestic terrorism is another man's exercise of his first amendment rights," said Mathews' defense attorney Joseph Balter.
That's when the judge asked," What's the government supposed to do? Are they supposed to wait until they go to Richmond and kill people?"
According to CBS News, surveillance devices also caught Mathews and Lemley, of Elkton, discussing what they might do on their trip.
"Here's the thing to, you want to create f***ing some instability, while the Virginia situation is happening, make other things happen, derail some rail lines, f***ing like shut down the highways, oh road block, great lets [sic] shut down the rest of the roads, you know, you can kick off the economic collapse of the U.S. within a week," Mathews allegedly told Lemley on December 21.
"I literally need, I need to claim my first victim," Lemley told Mathews later.
"You know we got this situation in Virginia where this is going to be, that opportunity is boundless and the thing is you've got tons of guys who are just in theory should be radicalized enough to know that all you gotta do is start making things go wrong and if Virginia can spiral out to f***ing full blown civil war," Mathews later added.
Lemley, 33, and 19-year-old Bilbrough IV of Denton, were charged with transporting and harboring aliens and conspiring to do so.
Lemley was also charged with transporting a machine gun and disposing of a firearm and ammunition to an alien unlawfully present in the United States. He and 27-year-old Mathews, currently of Newark, Delaware, were also charged with transporting a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony.
"They have a right to say what they think, but everyone else has the right to be safe and free from harm," said U.S. Attorney Robert Hur, outside the federal courthouse in Greenbelt.
Mathews was held in federal detention. Lemley waived his right to a detention hearing and will continue to be held. The third defendant William Bilbrough IV was ordered to be held.
Maryland and Delaware authorities worked on the case together along with federal agencies like the FBI.
"If you see something say something," said FBI Special Agent Jennifer Boone. "If you suspect something, say something."
"We must not allow fear or silence weaponize those who seek to commit acts of violence against our communities or against our nation," Boone added.
