Boogaloo Bois Member Admits Conspiring With Hamas to Commit Terrorism
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A member of the extremist group Boogaloo Bois has pleaded guilty to terrorism offenses after plotting to conspire with Hamas.
Benjamin Ryan Teeter, 22, admitted conspiracy to provide material support and resources—property, services and weapons—to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization, at District Court in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
The charges relate to an investigation into Teeter and Michael Robert Solomon. The pair are members of the Boogaloo Bois movement and a sub-group called the “Boojahideen,” according to the FBI.
The Boogaloo Bois are a loose collective of anti-government individuals, who are calling for a second civil war or preparing for the collapse of society. Their supporters have been seen at anti-lockdown and Black Lives Matter protests across the country, dressed in military-style gear and Hawaiian shirts and carrying firearms.
The FBI said it had received information about members of the Boogaloo Bois through an informant whom Teeter and Solomon believed to be a member of Hamas.
Teeter and Solomon were recorded saying they believed the Islamist militant organization, which rules the Gaza Strip, holds anti-U.S. government views that align with their own opinions.
Teeter and Solomon spoke of their desire to act as “mercenaries” for Hamas to raise money for the Boogaloo Bois and Boojahideen, including funding for recruitment and purchasing land to be used as a training compound
Teeter admitted in his guilty plea that he knew Hamas was a designated terrorist organization.
According to the plea, the pair met with the person they thought was a member of Hamas a number of times in the summer of this year, including in June when they discussed plans to use explosives to destroy government buildings in the U.S.
On two other occasions, the three men discussed plots to destroy courthouses.
Teeter and Solomon also delivered firearm suppressors they had produced to another man they believed was a member of Hamas, with the pair agreeing to manufacture more suppressors believing that the next batch would be used by the terrorist group against Israeli and United States military personnel overseas.
Teeter, of Hampstead, North Carolina, will be sentenced at a later date.
Michael Paul, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis field office, said after the guilty plea: “This case highlights the real threat posed by domestic violent extremists who self-radicalize and threaten to violently attack others opposed to their views, with little or no warning. Preventing terrorist attacks is the FBI’s No 1 priority and the primary mission of our Joint Terrorism Task Forces.”
Teeter’s co-defendant—Solomon, of New Brighton, Minnesota—is also charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He has not yet entered a plea.
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