LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California man with ties to the white supremacy motion is the topic of a home terrorism investigation, federal authorities wrote in court docket paperwork.
The probe got here to gentle in paperwork filed Friday in a separate case charging Brian Thibodeau with possession of an unregistered gun silencer. The 20-year-old has pleaded not responsible in federal court docket in San Diego in that case and is free on bond.
The FBI advised particular brokers from the Division of Homeland Safety who have been investigating the silencer that Thibodeau was going through an home terrorism investigation involving so-called racially motivated violent extremists, the court docket paperwork say.
The FBI stated their investigation entails white supremacy and home terrorism actions, the court docket paperwork say, in addition to on-line planning for potential violent assaults within the U.S.
Although there is a home terrorism investigation, no particular home terrorism regulation exists within the federal prison code. Meaning the federal government should depend on different legal guidelines, comparable to hate crimes and weapons offenses, in politically motivated circumstances.
A spokesperson for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in San Diego declined to touch upon Thibodeau’s case Monday. His lawyer and an FBI spokesperson didn’t return requests for remark.
Brokers executing a search warrant at Thibodeau’s dwelling in Imperial, California, in March found the silencer, two firearms, a package for making an AR-type rifle and steel pipes that authorities imagine is perhaps used to make pipe bombs. In addition they discovered six cellphones, three desktop computer systems, a laptop computer and an iPad.
As well as, officers uncovered two notebooks full of racist and Nazi phrases and drawings, in addition to numerous racist and antisemitic paperwork and propaganda objects, a novelty grenade and a replica of “The Turner Diaries,” an antisemitic novel that’s well-liked with extremists. The search warrant additionally turned up a T-shirt that includes a neo-Nazi image, a German helmet and a black Nazi-style jacket with cranium and crossbones on the collar.
The Homeland Safety investigation started on March 19, paperwork say, when U.S. Customs and Border Safety officers discovered the silencer on the Los Angeles Worldwide Mail Facility. It was addressed to Thibodeau.
An secret agent delivered the silencer to Thibodeau on March 26. Federal authorities searched his dwelling — about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of the U.S.-Mexico border — and interviewed Thibodeau about his buy.
He advised the Homeland Safety brokers he had ordered the half on-line for $25 and it had been marketed as a gasoline filter. He stated he was going to make use of it to wash his rifle, the court docket paperwork say.
Thibodeau advised the brokers that the FBI had come to his dwelling just a few months earlier and tried to talk with him however he refused, in response to the paperwork. He stated he believed it was associated to one thing he had posted on-line however he wasn’t certain. The brokers later contacted the FBI, which advised them of the home terrorism investigation.
When the brokers advised Thibodeau that he would face a state felony quotation for the silencer, he all of a sudden raised his voice. He referred to as the brokers “federal pigs” and stated it was a waste of time, the paperwork say. He later apologized.
Federal authorities on Friday utilized for a warrant to go looking Thibodeau’s computer systems, iPad and cellphones.
If he’s convicted of the federal silencer cost, Thibodeau must forfeit a Glock handgun, an AR-15 model rifle, almost 500 rounds of varied ammunition and several other magazines.
He’s scheduled to look in court docket Could 27 in a web-based listening to.
