Three other men, all from northern Georgia and linked to The Base by the authorities, are already charged with the animal’s death and other alleged crimes. Luke Austin Lane, Michael Helterbrand and Jacob Kaderli have been detained in Floyd County Jail for more than a year.
The arrests of the Georgia men were announced in January 2020, the day after Mathews, Lemley and Bilbrough were arrested.
ExploreProsecutor: Animal cruelty, gun charge in Georgia case
Helterbrand is also charged with increased sexual violence, terrorist threats and the criminal involvement of street gangs. He is believed to be members of the criminal street gang, Ghostface Gangsters, along with the six other inmates who were charged in a prisoner attack in February.
“The group was involved in recruiting new members online, meeting to discuss strategy, and practicing at paramilitary training camps on 100 acres in Silver Creek,” Floyd Police said in a press release earlier this year.
The case is described in a 20-page affidavit describing how an undercover FBI agent infiltrated the group over the past year. He met with some of his members on the Lane family property in Silver Creek and participated in target practice to prepare for what the group calls the “boogaloo,” or the collapse of the United States and racial war.
ExplorePolice: Georgia men are part of a white supremacist group planning a murder
The base is a neo-Nazi group that has been active online since it was founded in 2018. It portrays its members as “soldiers who defend the European race against a system infected by Jewish values,” said Oren Segal, vice president of anti-defamation The League’s Center for Extremism.
“This is a continuation of the domestic terrorism threat that I think people are finally getting their heads about,” Segal said. “To some extent, law enforcement agencies have spoken of redoubling efforts to prosecute this deadly threat. And maybe now we’re seeing some of the results of this focus. “
Helterbrand’s attorney, Radford Bunker, claims his client, who worked in the information technology industry, has no criminal convictions and has supportive parents in St. Louis willing to put him on loan and let him live with them .
