Case against man linked to Patrik Mathews, extremist group could be resolved soon

Federal prosecutors and defence attorneys may be close to resolving the criminal case against a Maryland man whom the FBI linked to a violent white supremacist group, a court filing says.

In Friday's status report, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Windom said efforts to resolve the case against William Bilbrough IV have been "slowed somewhat" by defence attorneys' ability to confer with their jailed client and "the timing of facility mail," an apparent reference to the jail.

"The parties expect disposition in this case within the next month. If no such disposition is achieved, the parties propose setting a deadline for an additional status report (on Nov. 9)," Windom wrote.

Bilbrough's attorney, Robert Bonsib, declined to comment Sunday on the status of the case or Windom's court filing.

Bilbrough, of Denton, Md.,U.S. Army veteran Brian Mark Lemley Jr., of Elkton, Md., and Patrik Mathews, a former Canadian reservist from Manitoba, were arrested by the FBI in January as part of a broader investigation of The Base, a neo-Nazi militant group.

Authorities said the three men were members of the group and that its goal was to accelerate the overthrow of the U.S. government and replace it with a white supremacist regime. Authorities in Georgia and Wisconsin also arrested four other men linked to The Base.

Mathews, Bilbrough and Lemley Jr. allpleaded not guilty to federal charges including transporting a firearm and ammunition with the intent to commit a felony. Bilbrough pleaded not guilty to charges that he helped transport and harbor Mathews, who is accused of illegally entering the U.S. from Canada.

Mathews disappeared in August 2019

Mathewsdisappeared from his home in Beausejour, Man., a town nearly 50 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, in August 2019 amid allegations that he was a recruiter for The Base. He was a combat engineer with the 38 Canadian Brigade Group in Winnipeg when the allegations came to light.

Lemley and Mathews discussed "the planning of violence" at a gun rights rally in Richmond, Va., lastJanuary, according to prosecutors.

Lemley and Mathews also face separate but related federal charges in Delaware, where they shared a home. A closed-circuit television camera and microphone that investigators installed in the home captured Lemley talking about using a thermal imaging scope affixed to his rifle to ambush unsuspecting civilians and police officers, prosecutors said.

"I need to claim my first victim," Lemley said on Dec. 23, according to prosecutors.

"And the thing is you've got tons of guys who ... should be radicalized enough to know that all you gotta do is start making things go wrong and if Virginia can spiral out to ... full blown civil war," Mathews said, according to prosecutors.

Bilbrough, who worked as a pizza delivery driver and lived with his grandmother, is the only defendant in the case who isn't facing firearms-related charges. A prosecutor has said Bilbrough participated in early discussions about traveling to Richmond but had tried to distance himself from the group shortly before his arrest.

Mathews is facing a total of four charges: two counts each of two charges related to the possessionand transportation ofa firearm and ammunition while in the U.S.illegally. Each has the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Joseph Balter, Mathews' lawyers, filed nine motions last August to quash evidence for two criminal charges against his client, and separate Mathews' trial from the legal proceedings of Bilbrough and Lemley.

Balterargued that the FBI did not establish probable cause to permit the warrants for Mathews' phone and email address.

The government relied on evidence gathered against other individuals of interest, and agents"cherry-picked the most inflammatory statements" whenapplying for warrants while excluding the instances where members of The Base were told not to commitillegal acts, the lawyer said.

Balteralso argued that the government did not demonstrate that Mathews showed any imminent intent to commit a hate crime or incite riots, soMathews'communication isprotected free speech.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang hasn't set a trial date for the case.