A federal jury on Wednesday convicted a North Carolina man of instructing others how to build bombs with the intention of targeting federal law enforcement officers.
Christopher Arthur, 39, faces a maximum 20 years in prison, according to federal prosecutors. He was also found guilty of illegal possession of unregistered devices, including a short-barreled rifle, a silencer, three improvised hand grenades, and an improvised claymore sword, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office in Eastern District of North Carolina.
Mr. Arthur, an Army veteran who returned to the United States in 2010 after his second deployment to Iraq, is the owner of Tackleberry Solutions, a company with the goal of “teaching war time tactics to the everyday citizen.”
Mr. Arthur was arrested in January 2022 after he provided instructions on how to construct bombs to a confidential source, referred to as “Buckshot” by federal prosecutors.
Buckshot initially contacted Arthur in May 2021 for help, claiming that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had visited his home and he expected them to return.
Prosecutors played snippets of recordings made by Buckshot in which Mr. Arthur instructed him on a home defense strategy he called the “spider web,” which included putting improvised explosives around the home to maim or kill. Arthur described the spider web as a “freaking death box.”
‘Preparing for the Future War’
United States Attorney Michael Easley said in a January 2022 press release: “This type of behavior is criminal, it is unacceptable, and it will be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Here in Eastern North Carolina, we will protect the brave men and women of law enforcement who are sworn to protect us. The Justice Department will aggressively investigate and prosecute those whose actions would further violence against those in uniform. Our public servants in law enforcement deserve nothing less.”Mr. Arthur’s attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Ed Gray, urged the jury to consider the context under which Mr. Arthur was giving this information to Buckshot. He said Mr. Arthur believed a war was coming and that the collapse of the federal government was imminent.
Mr. Gray said that all of Mr. Arthur’s wartime tactics and bomb-making manuals and videos were merely meant to empower individuals to better defend themselves and their homes.
“What you have is someone dealing with fear,” Mr. Gray said. “He’s talking about preparing for the future war … he’s not talking about today.”
Mr. Arthur took the stand in his own defense to try and convince the jury that he had no issue with the current government. But in his videos he commonly referred to the tyrannical government, spoke openly of law enforcement and government as enemies, and that things had only worsened with recent events.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Kocher argued that Arthur knew exactly what he was doing, and that by teaching someone to make bombs to “defend” his home against federal agents, all law enforcement were put in danger.
When sentenced later this year, the Justice Department release notes that Mr. Arthur faces up to 95 years in jail, including a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for providing the explosives training knowing how it was going to be used, 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the seven counts relating to possessing unregistered devices, and five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
