West Virginia Man Sold Machine Gun Conversion Devices to Extremists, U.S. Says

[Judi Lynn]

Source: New York Times

Federal prosecutors say that Timothy John Watson sold his products to members of the antigovernment Boogaloo movement.


By Azi Paybarah
Nov. 18, 2020, 12:24 a.m. ET

A West Virginia man was indicted on Tuesday on federal charges that he sold machine gun conversion devices to hundreds of people, including antigovernment extremists in the Boogaloo movement and the person accused of fatally shooting two law enforcement officers this summer in California, prosecutors said.

The man, Timothy John Watson, 30, of Ranson, W.Va., is accused of selling devices that, when attached to weapons like an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, enable them to automatically fire more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger, prosecutors said.

Mr. Watson sold the devices online, according to prosecutors, and, in order to disguise their nature, described them as “wall hangers” meant to hold “keys, lanyards, hats, jackets, coats and other small items.”

According to a federal criminal complaint, Mr. Watson and his customers used coded language in emails, and messages on social media, indicating the devices were intended to turn weapons into machine guns.



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/us/boogaloo-machine-gun-sales-indicted.html

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Timothy John Watson

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Feds: West Virginia man supplied far-right Boogaloo Boys with fully automatic weapons converters, including to accused California cop killer
Nate Gartrell
PUBLISHED: November 3, 2020 at 2:02 p.m. | UPDATED: November 4, 2020 at 1:30 p.m




Steven Carrillo, 32, wears a mask with "We The People" "BLM" and "#Portland, #Kenosha, #George Floyd and #Breonna Taylor" written on it while listening to court proceedings at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, Calif., on Thursday, August 27, 2020. Carrillo, who is associated with an extremist Libertarian group, faces charges in federal and state court of first gunning down Federal Protective Services Officer Dave Patrick Underwood in Oakland, and then, a week later, murdering Santa Cruz Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller at an ambush in Ben Lomond. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)



For the second time in two weeks, federal authorities have publicly linked a suspected follower of the so-called Boogaloo movement to Steven Carrillo, the U.S. Air Force sergeant accused of assassinating two California law enforcement officers in separate incidents.

This time, authorities say that Carrillo, 32, purchased a device from a West Virginia man that was designed to convert an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle into a fully automatic. The alleged purchase was made in January, four months before Carrillo and a Millbrae man he’d met on a Boogaloo Facebook group traveled to the Ron Dellums Federal Building in downtown Oakland and killed Federal Protective Services Dave Patrick Underwood, according to the FBI.

This new detail was made public in a criminal complaint charging Timothy John Watson of Ranson, West Virginia with selling firearm parts without a license. The complaint alleges that Watson — who was arrested Tuesday in his home state — ran the website portablewallhanger.com, which “purports to sell 3D printed innocuous hooks, made with two pieces, however, when disassembled, one of the pieces functions as an illegal drop in auto sear which has been confirmed by ATF to convert a semi automatic AR-15 into a fully-automatic machine gun,” FBI Special Agent Mark McNeal wrote in the complaint.

The wall hanger website advertises that the products are “high impact and heat resistant” that are “designed to keep your keys, lanyards, coat or other important light weight item exactly where you will remember it so you don’t waste time looking for it!” It assures potential buyers that their personal information will never be shared or sold to third parties and notes that the business is based in “Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.”

More:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/11/03/feds-west-virginia-man-supplied-far-right-boogaloo-boys-with-fully-automatic-weapons-converters-including-to-accused-ca-cop-killer/amp/

[mr_lebowski]

1. Oooh he's a clever one with his BLM face mask there isn't he?

Asshole.

[LiberalLovinLug]

3. I don't get it.

Is this some kind of reverse psychology?
Is it simply mocking the BLM movement?
Is it supposed to be funny?

[mr_lebowski]

4. He wants his picture taken in court looking like he's a violent BLM'er

When he's actually the opposite.

That's my take.

[LiberalLovinLug]

5. ha

I was going to put that down as well, but thought that even he wouldn't be that stupid. To think he could fool anyone by that.

But maybe you are right. He may be that much of an idiot.

[mr_lebowski]

6. That doesn't make him an idiot ... he knows other dipshit wingnuts will pass around the picture

in social media posts ... and some idiots, when they see these posts, will take the photo at face value because they won't know anything else about the story other than this guy shot cops.

It's quite clever, in a totally evil sort of way.

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. Maybe you're right

He's not stupid
He's just smart enough to know how stupid other Trumpsters are. And has no problem taking advantage of it.

[SergeStorms]

2. The first photo...

should be the anti-methamphetamine campaign's poster child. That's not a good look for anyone with functioning brain synapses.