MINNEAPOLIS — A New Brighton man will spend three years in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to assist Hamas, a Palestinian fundamentalist group classified by the U.S. government as a terrorist group.
Michael Solomon, who is a self-proclaimed member of the anti-government militia movement known as the Boogaloo Bois, was caught up in and FBI sting operation along with another member of the group, Benjamin Teeter or North Carolina.
They were part of a contingent of Boogaloo Bois and the subgroup dubbed "Boojahideen" who gathered in Minneapolis during the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd by an MPD officer in May of 2020. The FBI launched the investigation after receiving tips that Solomon and Teeter had been discussing shooting officers and blowing up courthouses to protest what they perceived as government overreach.
On June 10, 2020, the pair met with a confidential government source they thought was part of Hamas. The two bought drill press to make five firearms suppressors for the undercover operative. Those suppressors are designed to attach to a gun barrel to cut down on noise and limit the muzzle flash, but those "silencers" can only be made and sold by entities licensed by the ATF.
Solomon and Teeter later gave the fake Hamas member a "drop-in auto sear" -- a device that can covert semiautomatic weapons into fully automatic machine guns. They told the undercover man they could provide more of the same firearms equipment to Hamas, with the understanding it would be used to attack Israelis and US citizens in the Middle East.
"I can’t say enough about the agents and analysts and support staff that worked on this investigation," Michael Paul, the Special Agent in Charge of the Minnesota FBI Field Office told KARE.
"We used a variety of tools to make sure we preempted the violence that these individuals were planning, and I think it shows the dedication of our staff here the way that we collaborate with other agencies like our partners at ATF and our MInnesota state law enforcement officials."
Both Solomon and Teeter pled guilty last year to a single federal count of conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist group. Such a conviction can bring a ten-year prison term, but U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis sentenced Solomon to 36 months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised probation.
Judge Davis, in delivering the sentence, noted that Solomon had provided extensive help to the FBI with other investigations after being arrested in the summer of 2020.
Judge Davis is scheduled to sentence Teeter for his role in the conspiracy on April 7.
The Boogaloo Bois are committed to the notion that a second civil war or "boogaloo" is needed to restore the rights of individual and bring down what they view as a corrupt federal government.
"What they’re most concerned about is what they consider government overreach, and they're very anti-police," Lisa Waldner, a sociology and criminal justice professor at the University of St. Thomas, told KARE.
"I don’t think they were that concerned about George Floyd being killed. I think the interest was, 'Well, people are mad at the police, let’s join in and create chaos.' The idea is to link up with other groups where their goals can align."
The FBI's Paul said political ideology make provide some insight into a group's motivation, but his investigators are focused on criminal intent regardless of ideology.
"This is somewhat uncommon when we see an overlap between domestic extremists and international terrorism," the FBI's Paul explained.
"In this case it was a good example of their will and intent to contribute to violence one way or another."
A third member of the Boogaloo Bois, Ivan Hunter of San Antonio, pled guilty last year to a federal charge of rioting. The 24-year-old Texan admitted he drove to Minneapolis during the Floyd Riots with the intent to take part in the unrest.
On May 28, 2020, Hunter was caught on video firing 13 rounds from an AK-47 style semiautomatic rifle into the MPD's Third Precinct Station as it was burning and being looted by others.
He was arrested in Austin, Texas after leaving the Twin Cities.