Virginia gun rights rally
(AP Photo/Steve Helber)

By Michael Kunzelman and Mike Balsamo, AP

FBI agents on Thursday arrested a former Canadian Armed Forces reservist and two other men who are linked to a violent white supremacist group and were believed to be heading to a pro-gun rally next week in Virginia’s capital.

The three men are members of The Base and were arrested on federal charges in a criminal complaint unsealed in Maryland, according to a Justice Department news release.

Tuesday’s complaint charges Canadian national Patrik Jordan Mathews, 27, and Brian Mark Lemley Jr., 33, of Elkton, Maryland, with transporting a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony. William Garfield Bilbrough IV, 19, of Denton, Maryland, is charged with transporting and harboring aliens.

The three men were believed to be planning to attend the pro-gun rally planned for Monday in Richmond, according to a law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an active investigation.

Mathews and Lemley were arrested in Delaware and Bilbrough was arrested in Maryland, according to Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Maryland. All three men were scheduled to make their initial court appearances Thursday afternoon in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Court papers say Mathews illegally crossed the U.S. border near Minnesota in August and investigators allege Lemley and Bilbrough then drove from Maryland to Michigan to pick up Mathews before the three headed to Maryland in late August.

U.S. and Canadian authorities had been searching for Mathews after his truck was found in September near the border between the two countries. He was last seen by family members in Beausejour, northeast of Winnipeg, on Aug. 24, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Canadian military’s intelligence unit was investigating Mathews for “possible racist extremist activities” for several months, according to the Canadian Department of National Defence.

Authorities say Lemley and Mathews built an assault rifle using several parts, including an upper-receiver that Lemley had ordered and shipped to a Maryland home. In December, the three men gathered at an apartment that Lemley and Mathews rented in Delaware, where they discussed The Base and its activities and members, passed around the assault file and tried to make the drug DMT, a hallucinogen, according to court papers.

A few days later, Lemley and Mathews bought 150 rounds of ammunition and paper shooting targets and Lemley was spotted by an FBI agent at a gun range in Maryland. Court papers say federal agents heard the gun firing in rapid succession and authorities allege that Lemley later told Mathews: “Oh oops, it looks like I accidentally made a machine gun.”

Federal agents appeared to be tracking the men’s movements and set up a stationary camera near the gun range, which captured video of Mathews shooting the gun there on Jan. 5. Court documents say Lemley had also ordered 1,500 rounds of ammunition and he and Mathews visited the gun range as recently as Saturday.

Lemley also is charged with transporting a machine gun and “disposing of a firearm and ammunition to an alien unlawfully present in the United States.”

The Anti-Defamation League said members of The Base and other white supremacist groups have frequently posted online messages advocating for “accelerationism,” a fringe philosophy in which far-right extremist s “have assigned to their desire to hasten the collapse of society as we know it.”

“The term is widely used by those on the fringes of the movement, who employ it openly and enthusiastically on mainstream platforms, as well as in the shadows of private, encrypted chat rooms,” the ADL says.

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118 COMMENTS

  1. The ADL, an organization founded to defend a child murderer. If they don’t hate you, you need to reexamine your life.

    • Is Governor Blackface a member of the Base?

      Is Northam a co-conspirator?

      I keep hearing about white supremacists in Virginia, but the only one I know is Governor Blackface.

      • Sounds to like they are Dems just like Northam. Trying to “hasten an uprising” They are his “Base”

        • They’re Boogaloo guys who maybe are racist. It’s hard to tell whether they’re really racist because pretty much anyone who laughs at Boogaloo memes is branded a white supremacist. The fact the term accelerationist is used guarantees these guys were on social media talking about this crap. There’s people, usually younger anarchist pro 2A types who want a revolution AKA Boogaloo to begin and want some events to make it happen faster or accelerate the process.
          The fact they only charged the one guy with driving an alien around, basically what any municipal bus driver in NYC, Los Angeles or Chicago could be charged with, shows this is pretty much the same as arresting those kids for posting memes and owning tactical flashlights.
          The FBI and ATF has run out of semiliterate poor blacks to entrap with tattoos, happy meals and sneakers so now it’s on to social media political jokers.

    • There is so much wrong with this article that it would take another full article just to break it all down. However, the one thing that immediately struck me as this whole thing being a possible “FF” is the alleged name of the group; “The Base”. Being an Arabic speaker the words, The Base, in Arabic translates to
      Al Qaeda….chew on that for a bit. I mean seriously, of all names they could choose for their group they chose that?!

  3. The Paramilitary Lunatic Fringe Racists are now pouring out of the sewers of hate and headed for Virginia. The All White State is their Utopian dream and like Hitler would gladly build gas chambers to liquidate anyone not Caucasian , Christian protestant and of course a member of the Far Right Lunatic Fringe.

    Northam’s declaring a state of emergency turns out not be so far fetched as was previously thought. If anything any violence will only solidify a demand for Federal Bans on most modern firearms. Its all playing out right into the hands of Komarade Northam he could not of asked for better assistance than from the Far Right themselves.

    • Your sphinkter muscle appears to be way too tight around your neck, blocking off much needed oxygen and blood flow to your minuscule brain.

    • Not sure what is worse; your conspiracies or bigotry. Besides wearing tin-foil hats, do you sleep in it as well?

    • A white state/nation would function better than a black one. Just stating the obvious I am not debating whether it’s right or not. We can compare Iceland, Finland, Estonia to Somali, Haiti, or Liberia if you want. Also, liberals generally claim to be tolerant, which is easy to do for those who live in towns in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, etc, with low population and +90% Caucasian. Move some of those folks to New Orleans or Miami and they will probably lose some of that “coexist” mentality.

      • 100% ACCURATE. Sad that these needs to be spelled out, when it’s just common sense. Come live in the ghetto with your pets that you put on a pedestal, and if you survive long enough, see how long before you’re calling for their repatriation.

    • Governor Blackface’s 3 associates were arrested. Will Northam be as well?

      You know your “comrad” as you call him is a white supremacist, right?

      He supplied the picture of him and his buddy, dressed as Ku Klux Klan and blackface, and that was just one incident the racist piece of trash is guilty of.

      • No wonder Bernie’s people want us in gulogs. Their want a b President Bernie is a Socialist/ Communist and that is what they do. Once Americans guns are confiscated every right we are guaranteed by The Constitution is out the window. The 2nd Amendment especially . Without your gun you can not protect the other rights the Second Amendment hating Socialist / Communist Democrats will take away. History tells us that every country taken over by Socialist Communist thugs and tyrants first confiscate the citizens firearms. After this comes goulogs , concentration camps, mass murder, suffering and death. Everyone should learn something from this. Never, never give up your means of protection. “Your Firearm”.

    • Randomly pick any 3 comments by vlad. Read them. If they do not convince you that vlad is mentally ill, very, then I don’t know what would.

      My guess is he’s on a disability for said mental illness. No need to work.

      • Vlad may be an alias for one of the democratic communists running for president ! Maybe if someone handcuffed him and duct taped his mouth , he would fart himself to death. sarc. Vlad, with a little more education, you would make a good idiot.

    • I wonder if little “Vladdie” is aware that Vlad Tepes was one of the champion moslem slaughterers in all of history?

    • At this point, I think he’s one of the Trolls of Olingo.

      Hey Vlad, how’s the weather there in St. Petersburg?

  6. “The three men are members of The Base…”

    Interesting, ‘the base’ is the English translation of “Al-Qaeda”…

  8. If only the Canadian had come from south of the border and “accidentally” killed a random girl with a gun, he would be safe.

    “charged with transporting and harboring aliens”

    Why aren’t more people being charged with this? It’s almost like they’re just piling on the charges for certain people. Not taking up for these guys if what they say is true, but how about treating everyone equally, no matter who they are?

  9. FOLLOW THE MONEY! These morons didnt hatch this plan in between highs, bet a few bucks they were encouraged and/or funded by the usual suspects. Thanks Coonman, way to bring out the nutbags from both sides!! How those gun laws workin for ya, by the way?

    • Came here to say this too. Just how does someone sneak into the country nearly 6 months ago and get picked up buy a couple of boneheads from a few days drive away, and then what? Ate Ramen noodles while they all waited for their gun parts to come in the mail? This was funded and my money is that the trail would lead back to Bloomturd.

  10. I hope the FBI isn’t hanging around my range.

    I have been practicing and I can fire my standard MSR at a rate of almost 10 rounds per second. No bump stock, no bump fire, no mods – just a fast trigger finger and I am able to put them in a 10 in. circle at 25 yards most of the time.

    I’m just doing it for fun and the challenge. No plans other than to get the 10 in. circle down to a 6 in. circle.

  11. If we’re gonna have more illegals in the country this dude would seem like a good start. Virginians didn’t move left in the last election, they were replaced by outsiders who would reliability vote Demo-Rat!

  12. Well, the illegal alien needs to go to jail, and the co-conspirators also need to be jailed. We aren’t paying close enough attention to the fact that he crossed illegally and they made a machine gun! They may be like Antifa, just trying to make more trouble.

    • At least from what was written here, there was no conspiracy and the only crime was one guy who illegally came from Canada.

  13. … and we believe a word that the FBI or AP says… why? The AP is a commie propaganda machine and half the FBI needs to be in GITMO.

    • Exactly. Given this is the FBI, you know, the federal bullshit instigators that are behind so many recent scandals, I have great difficulty believing anything that they have to say. Drug and kiddy porn charges are all too easy to make up on the spot and are straight out of the CIA playbook to discredit people. Though there was no mention of KP charges, I wouldn’t put it passed the FBI to pull that out of its ass too.

      Making a machine gun is constitutional, though there exists many traitors to the constitution that would throw you in a cage for such an abominable act.

      These people can not expect a fair trial in the US injustice system.

      • ”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,” the court documents state.
​
        The Counter Extremism Project says the Base is a “neo-Nazi, white-supremacist network that describes itself as an ‘international survivalist and self-defense network’ that seeks to train their members for fighting a race war.”
        Mathews is an eight-year veteran of the Canadian Army Reserve who is trained in explosives. He was under investigation by the Canadian military for attempting to recruit people for the Base and his white nationalist beliefs when his car was found abandoned last August near the US border.
        After he illegally crossed into the US, authorities say, he met up with Lemley and Bilbrough. Lemley and Mathews had been living together in a Delaware apartment for months, allegedly building an assault rifle and attempting to manufacture DMT, a psychedelic drug.
        Lemley took the assault rifle to a Maryland gun range on Jan. 2, where an FBI agent reported that multiple bullets could be heard firing at once.
        “Oh oops, it looks like I accidentally made a machine gun,” Lemley told Mathews, according to the affidavit. Five days later, Lemley ordered 1,500 rounds of ammunition.“

  14. “…was spotted by an FBI agent at a gun range in Maryland.”

    Exactly why many of us here go to the desert to practice instead of formal ranges.

  15. Wait, their organization is called “The Base”?

    As in, Al-Qaeda?
    From Wikipedia: “Al-Qaeda Arabic: القاعدة‎ al-Qāʿidah, translation: “The Base””

    Federal deep cover ops are just getting sloppy.

    • “As in, Al-Qaeda?
      From Wikipedia: “Al-Qaeda Arabic: القاعدة‎ al-Qāʿidah, translation: “The Base”””

      As I mentioned about 20 minutes earlier.

      (See above… 😉 )

  16. And how did “Authorities know about the upper receiver and ammunition ” purchases?
    Do the Authorities know about all upper and ammo purchases or just those that are being watched by said authorities?

    • Some Antifa members have been arrested before.

      Virginia law enforcement are setting up only one entrance to make sure everyone is searched. Masks and military gear is not allowed. “Weapons” are banned from the area. The definition of weapons includes toy guns, laser pointers, drones, sticks, flag poles, helmets, shields, body armor, etc. It’s a very wide definition, allowing law enforcement to determine what to ban. This starts on Friday and ends on Tuesday.

      There will be areas blocked off and strike teams around the city. From what I can tell, the feds will have their snipers setup in areas to watch structures and the crowd. Those non law enforcement with weapons will be asked to leave once, then the necessary force will be used to deal with those armed people. Concealed carry is not allowed.

      So it’s going to be very hard for Antifa to start something when they are surrounded by the cops and the other side. They are not going to start something when a sniper is pointing a gun at them. There will be numerous law enforcement agencies there, including the feds. Also, Antifa doesn’t want gun control to disarm them too.

  18. I don’t know where to go with this.

    1) “linked”? “believed”? Anything solid here?

    2) 3 supremacists? Well, there’s half the group.

    3) The US is importing them from Canada now?

    4) The ADL only cares about hate from the “right”. They seem to have no problem with ignoring the Squad.

    5) Enough people already made Northam references, so I’ll pass.

    • What a time to be alive we need to import people to fake hate crimes and actually have white supremacists.

        • And yet what makes the news. There are hate grops of all colors and creed’s yet it is only one group that gets attention. It’s a joke and increasingly a popular meme. I wonder how much longer such reports will even be relevant.

  20. Mathews was Known to be illegally in country since about September since being identified for racist posters and anti Antifa posters in Canada
    the feds had surveillance since when (?)on known illegal but what were they waiting for him to do what

    I am pretty sure they were staking out the one public range in Elkton but it is weird since those ranges have always had MSP Troopers or county sheriff staff every time I have been there

    Lived in the area for six decades lots of klan and identity members well known to local LEOs through school or family ties weird that they focus on these guys and that they use it to disparage the gun rights advocates in Virginia

    • The law in Virginia requires there to be an outside threat for the governor to declare a state of emergency. These guys needed to be arrested for the state of emergency to be lawful. The governor had to announce it and inform the people of the threat. So the governor did his part and Trump’s feds did theirs.

      Funny how Trump isn’t doing a thing. He is so worried about other countries people…

  21. Soooo…they’re concerned about Canadian’s invading but millions of spanglish are welcomed with open arms?!? Got it. Not a fan of “white supremacist’s” but as mentioned antifa scum are FAR worse…

    • Antifa is a large group of white men and women who think they are better than everyone. They believe they should be put in power because non whites are incapable of taking care of themselves. They claim they are the saviors of non whites, thus they have moral authority to commit whatever act is necessary.

  22. After reading the article, I’m still trying to find a crime. Illegal immigration? Ok. Building an AR? Legal. Buying ammo? Legal. Loaning a gun to a friend, even from another country? Legal. In fact there are ranges all over the country who allow foreigners to shoot. Legal. Having a white supremist attitude/mentality? While I don’t agree isn’t against the law.

    • While the other border gets arrests for this with obviously different gangs for some reason it is not national news. Almost like it’s too commonplace to bother and this is a rare and shocking event to actually get to some views to raise faltering ratings.

  23. Some gang members here in the U.S A. join the U.S. military to become better gangland soldiers. Evidently other gangs join other militaries also . I reckon if your going to do it do it right,

  24. This whole lobby day is just a move on the chess board set up to catch the low hanging fruit of opportunity. Which are those without sufficient intelligence to realize it. It’s a trap you full load out, shoot em up retards. You will be used as an example to further the gun grab agenda because you are playing right into the hands of these tyrannical people.

  25. Well, thank God, the the PHBI is protecting us from “white supremacists”, huh? I probably couldn’t sleep nights otherwise.

  26. I was under the impression Elkton Md is a 2A sanctuary being located in Cecil county, Matthews should have stayed in Montgomery county Md which is an illegal alien sanctuary county.. I guess that stuff is actually quite subjective.. We will protect you only IF you meet our particular criteria… Is there anyone that can state FOR A FACT that these three wee actually headed to Richmond on Monday or is this the work of the FBIs secret “THOUGHT POLICE” program…

  27. The news is not that they were arrested, the news is that found that many. How many more are there other than Vlad?

    • “The ADL is a Jewish Supremacist organization.”

      Wow. Who knew? I’ll have to find my membership card.

  31. The Klan killed 3,446 people, not all black, in it’s 86 years of killing people. In today’s world, blacks kill about that many other blacks every year, give or take a few hundred either way. Last month, December, 2019, moslems killed 1,622 people, most of them other moslems. In 2016, moslems committed 99.84% of all religiously associated terror attacks on the planet. Now, I don’t care whether the Klan exists or not, but I don’t see them as much of a threat to anything except the emotional safety needs of liberals.

    • In the U.S. White Supremacists and Far Right Racists have been involved in the majority of hate crimes and mass murders not Muslims.

      https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-supremacists-committed-most-extremist-killings-2017-adl-says-n838896

      White supremacists and other far-right groups committed the majority of extremist-related murders in the United States last year, according to a new report by the Anti-Defamation League.

      White supremacists were “directly responsible” for 18 out of 34 U.S. extremist-related deaths in 2017, the ADL said. Islamic extremists, by comparison, were only responsible for nine deaths in America.

      Last year’s share of white supremacist killings represents a jump from 2016, when such groups accounted for nine homicides.

      In an op-ed in The Atlantic accompanying the report, ADL National Director and CEO Jonathan Greenblatt noted that the uptick in white supremacist violence in 2017 occurred against the backdrop of an increasingly conspicuous alt-right movement.

      • Very selective quoting job there Vlad. Here’s more of the story from the same article:

        While white supremacists accounted for the largest share of killings last year, an Islamic extremist is charged with committing the single deadliest incident: Sayfullo Saipov allegedly rammed into pedestrians in New York City in October, killing eight.

        Last year’s total of 34 extremist-related fatalities represents a sharp decline from the previous two years – though it was still the fifth-deadliest year since 1970, according to the ADL. The organization recorded 71 extremist-related killings in 2016 and 69 in 2015.

        The statistics were culled from the ADL’s own tracking of extremist crimes. The organization said that its statistics would likely be revised upwards, as extremist connections to some murders can take months to uncover.

        But different organizations track extremist violence in different ways. The ADL counts non-ideological murders committed by extremists in its tally — so a dedicated white supremacist who commits a murder unrelated to his political beliefs would be counted, for example. New America, a think tank with its own tracking system, excludes such statistics.

        “For us, there has to be clear causation, not just correlation,” said Albert Ford, a New America researcher.

        New America counted five murders by far-right extremists in 2017, nine by Islamic extremists, and three by black nationalists.

        Either way, extremist killings represent only a fraction of the total homicides in the U.S., though they tend to garner more media coverage and have an outsize impact on public debate.

  32. If any violence happens in Virginia happens it will be right wing conservative gun owning republicans who did it. If you don’t think so just wait for the news agency’s to report it.

  33. Soooo…. Guv Coonman calls up the FBI, says I need a couple of white supremacists so I can close down the statehouse. FBI says no prob, we got a couple of patsies down in Elkton that could use a couple of bucks and it’s only an hour’s drive away. Done deal.

  34. The FBI can supposedly catch these three, but they’re handed the Tsarnev Brothers, Boat-boy and Speed-bump, on a platter, and they do nothing.

    Riiiight.

    Sure. I’ll believe this.

  35. This story is so full of$hit ….fkn moronic liberals…
    I read NOTHING in this article that criminalizes these people…
    And the crap about harboring an alien is rich…. considering what these mfkn disgusting liberals are doing on the southern border….
    When will Americans realize what is happening and put a stop to it?
    THIS HAS TO STOP BEFORE EVERY DECENT PERSON IS IMPRISONED AND ONLY GHETTO TYPES AND FOREIGNERS ARE FREE TO ROAM OUR (NOT THEIRS… NEVER WAS) STREETS???

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