Photo: Brian Blanco/Getty Images
A federal jury convicted Christopher Arthur, 39, of teaching someone how to make bombs intended to kill federal agents.for which he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, according to federal prosecutors.
The also Army veteran was also charged with illegal possession of weapons, including improvised explosives found on his farm in Mount Olive, North Carolina.
Arthur served in the Army as a cavalry scout, with a career that ranged from National Guard and active duty culminating in the rank of sergeant at the end of his nearly decade of service.
In exchange for his training, reputation, and claims about his extensive experience as a soldier, he ran Tackleberry Solutions, a combat academy for civilians. For years, he taught weapons skills, setting up fighting positions, and how to evade capture. He even bred and trained dogs, videotaping demonstrations of his attacking skills.
Despite this, he was arrested in January 2022 after gave a man confidential instructions on how to build bombs, dubbed the “Buckshot” by federal prosecutors.
Buckshot initially contacted Arthur in May 2021 for help, alleging that agents from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had seized some of his weapons. He told Arthur that he wanted help preparing for the expected return of the agents to his house.
Prosecutors played excerpts from recordings made by Buckshot in which Arthur instructs him in a home defense strategy he called the “spider web,” which included placing improvised explosives around the home to maim or kill.
“I’m going to show you something called the spider web,” Arthur is heard saying on the recordings, which were played in court. “It’s a fucking death box.”
In addition to supporting documents from his lawyers, Arthur took the stand in his own defense to try to convince the jury that he had no problem with the current government. But in the videos of him commonly referring to the tyrannical government, he spoke openly of law enforcement and the government as enemies and that things had only gotten worse with recent events.
But the jury did not buy it and only took an hour to deliberate.
Assistant US Attorney Barbara Kocher argued that Arthur knew exactly what he was doing, and that by teaching someone to make bombs to “defend” their home against federal agents, all law enforcement are in danger.
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