White supremacists are convicted of training for a civil war in Michigan

Three members of a militant white supremacist group were the first in Michigan to be convicted of conspiring to train with firearms for a civil war, state Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday.

The men belong to The Base, a pro-Hitler movement that advocates a race war against non-white people with the goal of using violence “to overthrow the existing social and political order,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Justen Watkins, Thomas Denton, and Tristan Webb were charged in August 2021 with larceny in a building, gang membership, felony possession of a firearm, and conspiracy to train with firearms for a civil war. They were accused of breaking into the vacant Michigan Department of Corrections Camp Tuscola annex and Tuscola Residential ReEntry Program in Caro in October 2020 and stealing state-issued clothing from one of the jails.

Prosecutors allege they were scoping the site as potential training grounds for “hate camps,” which is the name the group gave its paramilitary firearms training exercises.

“Securing these convictions on the conspiracy to train for civil disorder holds significance for many reasons,” Nessel said in a statement. “They reiterate this office’s commitment to protecting Michigan residents, they create a historic precedent in our state’s court system, and they convey the real danger domestic terrorism poses here and around the country. I appreciate the thorough work done by our team and partner agencies to secure these convictions. Let them send the message that in Michigan, we will not hesitate to prosecute those who commit crimes in the name of overthrowing our government or perpetuating racist ideologies.”

Webb pleaded no contest Monday to gang membership, conspiracy to train with firearms for a civil disorder, and felony possession of a firearm. His sentencing hearing hasn’t been scheduled yet.

Watkins pleaded guilty to the same charges in April and will be sentenced on June 12.

Denton was sentenced to up to four years in prison on the same charges.

The case was investigated by the FBI.

"The pleas serve as an example of the FBI's continued commitment to work alongside its law enforcement partners at every level to protect the security of our nation —even when Federal criminal statutes may not be available," said James A. Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit Field Office, in a statement.

A fourth member of the group, Alfred Gorman, pleaded guilty to gang membership and was sentenced to four years of probation on Feb. 28 in connection with another incident.

Gorman and Watkins were charged in October 2020 for terrorizing a family in Dexter. The men were accused of targeting what they mistakenly believed was a home owned by Daniel Harper, a podcaster who combats white nationalism on “I Don’t Speak German.”

The home was owned by a man with the same name, but not the podcaster.

In September 2019, a U.S. Army soldier in Kansas was arrested on accusations of providing instructions online about how to build bombs to burn down Harper’s house.

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