By ADRIAN GLASS-MOORE
Assistant Editor
Two men were charged in U.S. District Court in Minnesota last month with allegedly conspiring and attempting to provide material support to Hamas.
Michael Robert Solomon, 30, of New Brighton, Minn., and Benjamin Ryan Teeter, 22, of Hampstead, N.C., were charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
The two men are self-proclaimed members of the “Boogaloo Bois,” an extremist anti-government organization, the Justice Department said in a statement.
As of late September, the two men were being held in Sherburne County Jail and had not yet entered formal pleas, said a Justice Department spokesperson.
According to an FBI agent’s affidavit, in early June the FBI began receiving information from a paid informant about Solomon, Teeter and other members of the Boogaloo Bois.
Solomon and Teeter allegedly believed the informant to be a member of Hamas, which is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S, the affidavit said. Solomon and Teeter allegedly expressed a desire to be “mercenaries” for Hamas.
In late June, Solomon and Teeter were introduced to an undercover FBI employee who they believed to be a more senior member of Hamas, the affidavit alleges. During this meeting, Solomon and Teeter allegedly expressed a willingness to make suppressors for Hamas.
On July 30, Solomon and Teeter allegedly delivered five suppressors to the undercover FBI employee and expressed a desire to make more, the affidavit said.
On August 20, the undercover FBI employee allegedly told Solomon and Teeter that additional suppressors would be used overseas to attack Israeli and U.S. forces, according to the affidavit. Solomon and Teeter allegedly agreed to build five additional suppressors for $1,800.
Solomon and Teeter also allegedly discussed the murder of politicians, the affidavit said.
Solomon’s attorney, Paul Engh, declined to comment.
