Benjamin Thomas Samuel McDowell, a 30-year-old felon from Conway, South Carolina, was arrested after attempting to illegally purchase firearms from an undercover FBI agent who he believed was a member of the Aryan Nations. With white supremacy tattoos and an admiration for racist mass murderer Dylann Roof, McDowell expressed a desire to “do something on a f***ing big scale.”. As part of a deal with federal prosecutors, McDowell pleaded guilty early March to a single count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. However, while this charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, McDowell was sentenced to three years and one month. This is most likely due to the results of a mental health evaluation ordered by U.S. District Judge R. Bryan Harwell, where it was found that McDowell’s “cognitive functioning is very low” and his intellectual ability is “significantly below average,”. It was also stated by Bill Nettles, McDowell’s public defender, that McDowell had “no overt acts, no planning, no plotting, no casing of any location.”.
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