A magistrate ordered the head of a national white supremacy group and an associate held on bond Friday, one day after they were arrested in a continuing crackdown on extremism in Michigan. The accused leader of the Base, Justen Watkins, 25, of Bad Axe, and Alfred Gorman, 35, of Taylor made brief appearances in front of 14A District Court Magistrate James Cameron who presided over a virtual videoconference from Washtenaw County. Cameron set bond at $100,000, or 10 percent, for Watkins during a hearing that provided new insight into a pair of FBI raids Thursday, including at a rural farmhouse in Bad Axe. The 3.5-acre farm is where prosecutors say Watkins ran a “hate camp” for members of the group to prepare to overthrow the government. (…) Assistant Attorney General Sunita Doddamani shed light on the raid at the camp, saying FBI agents seized 15 guns and found extremist propaganda throughout the home. “We believe the defendant is a great threat to public safety,” she said. “He is not just a member of the gang. He is a leader of this gang…that openly advocates for acts of violence.” Watkins and Gorman are linked to a December incident in Dexter in which a local family was terrorized by the men, who tried to intimidate a husband and wife and shared their address with members of the Base, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement Thursday. Cameron set bond at $50,000, or 10 percent, for Gorman. He is not accused of belonging to the Base. Instead, prosecutors say Gorman filmed firearms training by group members that was to be used as propaganda and to recruit new members, the prosecutor said. (…) The Base, operating as a paramilitary organization, has proclaimed war against minority communities within the United States and abroad, the FBI has said. Unlike other extremist groups, it’s not focused on promulgating propaganda — instead, the group aims to bring together highly skilled members to train them for acts of violence, Nessel said.
via detroitnews: Accused neo-Nazi leader gets bond in Michigan ‘hate camp’ case
siehe auch: Feds arrest alleged white supremacy group member who claimed to run “hate camp” in Michigan. The FBI and Michigan state police have arrested a self-proclaimed leader of the white supremacy group The Base and an alleged associate, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said on Thursday. The suspects are linked to a December 2019 incident in which The Base allegedly targeted a Michigan family’s home, mistakenly believing it belonged to a podcaster critical of the neo-Nazi movement. Justen Watkins, 25, the man who allegedly claimed to be leader of the group, and Alfred Gorman, 35, both of Michigan, have been charged with felony counts of gang membership, unlawful posting of a message and using computers to commit a crime. If convicted, they could face more than 25 years in prison. According to prosecutors, a man and a woman witnessed two men in dark clothing shining a light and taking pictures on the front porch of the family’s home in Dexter, Michigan. The photos were then allegedly uploaded to The Base’s channel on the secret chat app Telegram, and misidentified the house as belonging to the podcaster, who Nessel’s office said had never lived in the home.