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FBI Arrests 3 White Supremacists Ahead of Pro-gun Rally

Associated Press

   COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND - FBI agents on Thursday arrested a former
   Canadian Armed Forces reservist and two other men who have been linked
   to a violent white supremacistgroupandwere 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 chargedCanadian nationalPatrikJordan 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,was 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.

   Search since September

   U.S. and Canadian authorities had been searching for Mathewssincehis
   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 August24, 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 NationalDefence.

   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,'' aterm "white supremacists 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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