Two self-proclaimed members of the “Boogaloo Bois” were arrested by federal agents after allegedly conspiring and attempting to become “assets” to a foreign terrorist organization that shared their “anti-US government views,” the Justice Department announced on Friday.Michael Robert Solomon and Benjamin Ryan Teeter were taken into custody on Thursday and will be held pending a formal detention hearing on Wednesday in US District Court in Minneapolis.
Solomon, 30 of New Brighton, Minnesota, and Teeter, 22, of Hampstead, North Carolina, caught the eye of the FBI after they attended a George Floyd protest in late May. according to a news release from the Justice Department.Witnesses told federal authorities that they were both seen carrying a firearm and discussed being members of “Boogaloo Bois” and their subgroup called the “Boojahideen” that had intentions of “committing acts of violence against police officers” and had goals of “overthrowing the government and replacing its police forces,” according to the criminal complaint.
They allegedly discussed raiding a National Guard Armory to steal weapons and “bombs” and would seek out “assassinating” white supremacists while someone else recorded it, according to the criminal complaint.At some point in June, federal authorities learned from a confidential informant and in audio-recorded conversations that Solomon and Teeter told someone they believed was a member of Hamas that they “desire to employ themselves as ‘mercenaries’ ” for the terrorist organization, prosecutors said.
Solomon told an undercover FBI agent who posed as a senior member of Hamas that he and Teeter “would be an asset to Hamas” because “we’ve got to be pretty valuable because two American-born white boys, right? We can move around like nothing. I can take anything anywhere,” according to the criminal complaint.