MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The second of two self-described members of an anti-government extremist group accused in Minnesota of dealing firearm components to informants acting as members of Hamas is headed to prison.
Benjamin Ryan Teeter, 24, of Hampstead, North Carolina, was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to four years behind bars. He pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Authorities say Teeter and Michael Robert Solomon, 32, of New Brighton, Minnesota, sold silencers to FBI informants during the unrest following George’s Floyd’s killing, with the goal of raising money for the boogaloo movement. Solomon was sentenced in March to three years in prison.
Teeter and Solomon told an informant in June 2020 about a courthouse in northern Minnesota that they believed was a “suitable target for destruction,” authorities said.
The next month, according to court documents, Teeter and Solomon delivered five silencers to an informant, as well as a 3D printed “auto sear” they believed would be used by Hamas to convert rifles from semi-automatic to fully automatic.
Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck. His death sparked protests in Minneapolis and around the world.
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