LUBBOCK, Texas — An Olympia man has been sentenced to 30 months in a federal prison, following his arrest in Texas that was linked to the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen.
Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh pleaded guilty in January to possession of firearms and ammunition by a prohibited person.
The 23-year-old self-proclaimed Atomwaffen member was stopped in a car in November in Post, Texas on a traffic violation. The driver was Kaleb Cole, the suspected leader of the Atomwaffen cell in Washington state.
The pair was wearing tactical vests and there was a machete in the vehicle's center console. When deputies searched the car, they found military-style rifles, a pistol, nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition and a small amount of drugs.
The law says that active drug users are prohibited from possessing firearms.
Bruce-Umbaugh claimed all the firearms belonged to him and he was charged with illegal possession of the weapons.
Last fall, police and prosecutors used Washington’s 'red flag' law to seize a dozen firearms from Kaleb Cole, of Arlington, Washington. They convinced a judge his radical views and online posts calling for a “race war” present an extreme threat to public safety.
Earlier this year, Cole was arrested and charged with three others after sending threatening letters to journalists and activists across the country. They are accused of threats and cyberstalking and are charged in federal court in Seattle.
Atomwaffen is a small, but potentially violent, neo-Nazi group that has conducted live-fire firearms training sessions called “hate camps” in the Washington state wilderness. Atomwaffen is German for "atomic weapons."
Three of its members have been accused or convicted of murders in other states and the group’s founder is serving a prison sentenced for a foiled bomb plot in Florida.
Little is known about Bruce-Umbaugh except that he has claimed to be a childhood friend of Cole's.
US Attorney Nealy Cox and the FBI in the Northern District of Texas say Bruce-Umbaugh presented a serious threat.
“The amount of weapons and ammunition seized from the defendant could have caused serious harm,” said Agent-in-Charge Matthew J. DeSarno.