FBI agents have taken Utah resident Bill Keebler into custody, leveling a felony charge of Attempted Damage to Federal Property by Means of Fire or Explosive.
Keebler is a friend of the Bundy family and spent nearly two weeks at the Bundy ranch during the 2013 standoff with federal authorities. He was also a friend of LaVoy Finicum, the man who was fatally shot during a traffic stop after he tried to pull a gun on Oregon State Police.
According to the Deseret News, Keebler was training others to attack as well:
Prosecutors say undercover FBI agents became members of Keebler's Patriots Defense Force for several months. Keebler gave them military, firearms and survival training, and on May 15, 2015, talked to the undercover agents about "putting teams together and 'going on the offensive,'" the indictment states.
Keebler allegedly scouted out the BLM office in Salt Lake City near The Gateway shopping center, but decided to target BLM facilities in more remote locations. He then decided on the BLM facility in Mount Trumbull, Arizona, police say.
He had one of the undercover agents make a pipe bomb for him, the charges state.
"Keebler made it clear he didn't plan on blowing people up for now, but he wanted his group to be prepared to escalate things and take people out if necessary," according to the indictment.
Keebler planned to attack this week, thinking other militia groups would provide an alibi.
According to the felony complaint, Keebler carried out the attack, but was using a phony explosive device the undercover FBI agent had given him. Domestic terrorism expert JJ MacNab made several interesting points about Keebler’s arrest: Keebler personally scouted the location with LaVoy Finicum before his death and the BLM office they target was in Trumbull, Arizona—ancestral home of Cliven Bundy.
Keebler ran a Patriots Defense Force Facebook page where he tried to recruit others to join state militias, shared his anti-government views, survivalist tips and videos, like the one below, of his commando skills during mountain training.
Thursday, Jun 23, 2016 · 7:32:47 PM +00:00
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Jen Hayden
Thanks to DK user mrsgoo for finding this tweet. Keebler had some interesting friends. Noted gun-toting Nevada politician Michele Fiore and Victoria Sharp, who was in the car with LaVoy Finicum when he was shot by Oregon State Police.