FBI arrests Boogaloo Boy: He bit his dad, has a pot problem — and illegal guns
Nearly two years after demonstrating outside the state Capitol with a gun slung over his shoulder, a member of the so-called boogaloo bois was arrested by an FBI Terrorism Task Force in Plymouth this week and criminally charged — though the federal charges have nothing to do with anti-government rhetoric.
They have to do with pot and guns.
In an unsealed criminal complaint, the FBI says 24-year-old Timothy Teagan isn't allowed to have guns because he is a pothead who smokes weed about five times a day. And he has an anger problem: He bit his dad in the forehead last week and punched him repeatedly, previously held a sword to his throat, kicked his friend's wife in the face during a political argument in March, and "threatened to shoot up (his friend's) house with his AR-15 if they called the police," according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday.
Teagan is charged with violating a federal firearms statute that makes it a crime for a drug user or addict to possess guns or ammunition.
What the FBI seized from Teagan's home
The federal charges come one week after Plymouth police arrested Teagan at his father's home on domestic violence charges for allegedly biting his father and punching him repeatedly. That day, his father — a convicted felon — told police there were at least three guns in the house that belonged to his sons.
Two days later, the FBI showed up.
Agents with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force raided the Cherry Street home and seized numerous items from a room that Teagan used to store his belongings, including: an AR-15 rifle, dozens of rounds of ammo, multiple AR and 9mm magazines, marijuana, dozens of bongs and other drug paraphernalia, and a grinder frequently used to prepare whole leaf marijuana, court records state.
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In that same room, FBI agents also saw Boogaloo movement flags and patches, gas masks, a plate carrier vest and body armor.
"I am aware that Timothy Teagan self-identifies as a member and supporter of the Boogaloo movement. I believe that possession of firearms is consistent with the ideology espoused by members of this movement," an FBI agent with the Joint Terrorism Task Force wrote in her affidavit. "I am aware that Boogaloo ideology is an anti-government or anti-authority concept advocating the violent overthrow of government."
Nothing further was mentioned in documents about any violent overthrows, or violent acts.
But in an interview with documentarian Ford Fischer, Teagan said the that after the raid, FBI agents questioned him about any potential violence being planned in the upcoming election.
"They were asking if I knew about any violent plans or any violent tendencies that could come forth about the election," Teagan told Fischer in the interview, which was played on Twitter. "They were asking what the boogs or any militias were planning during the elections, if we had any plans to go to polls armed."
Teagan said there are no plans for violence.
"I told 'em we are kind of worried about protests if Prop 3 fails ... but I told them we really have no concerns over the election," Teagan says in the interview.
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History of violence
Teagan has never been convicted of a crime, though court records show he has had numerous brushes with the law.
His first such incident came in 2014. He was arrested for assault and domestic violence as a juvenile.
In 2017, he was arrested for possession of marijuana following a traffic stop, though it appears the case may have been dismissed.
That same year, Teagan was arrested by Plymouth police on felonious assault and domestic violence charges for allegedly biting his dad's arm, holding a sword to his throat and threatening him. He also physically assaulted his brother, chased him with a sword, shot at him with an airsoft gun, and repeatedly stabbed holes in the refrigerator with the sword. He pleaded guilty, but all charges were later dismissed as part of a deferred disposition.
On March 12, police were dispatched to the home of friends of Teagan who alleged that following a political argument, Teagan punched his friend in the head three times and kicked his friend’s wife in the face. Teagan also threatened to shoot up their house if they called the police, though attempts to locate Teagan were unsuccessful, and the friends refused to press charges — so none were brought.
Teagan, who made an initial appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, is locked up pending a Friday detention hearing. That's when a judge will decide whether to release him on bond or keep him jailed pending the outcome of his case.
"He's been presumed innocent and we will wait for further proceedings" before commenting further, Teagan's court-appointed attorney, Benton Martin, said to the Free Press Wednesday.
'I smoke plenty of weed'
In charging Teagan with a federal gun crime, the FBI used Teagan's own words against him — words he shared in a video recording of a Boogaloo-led protest.
On April 4, 2021, Teagan admitted in a video recording at a Boogaloo-led protest in Ann Arbor to being a marijuana user, which, the FBI maintains, would make him an unlawful gun owner.
The video was publicly available on the News2Share website, showing Boogaloo members protesting outside the Ann Arbor Justice Center.
Teagan is pictured in the video holding an AR-15 style rifle, and made the following declaration: “I love this city. I smoke plenty of weed in this city, believe me. Been to hash bashes before.”
According to the criminal complaint, the father told the FBI that his son lived with him temporarily, and had recently begun living in hotel rooms.
On the day of the raid, Teagan told FBI agents that he is a marijuana user, that he has been trying to cut back, that his brother brought marijuana to him one day after his domestic violence arrest but that he had not used it yet, court records show.
In the end, Teagan's history of pot use — he has allegedly smoked weed since he was 7 — and an ATF form he filled out would land him in federal court.
According to court records, on July 17, Teagan signed an ATF form for the purchase of a Glock 34 9 mm handgun and denied being a drug user, answering "no" to a question about whether he used any drugs or controlled substances. That was a lie, the FBI maintains, noting the use or possession of marijuana remains illegal under federal law, regardless of whether it has been legalized in various states.
Ohio Boogaloo arrest
Meanwhile, the FBI in a criminal complaint filed Monday that agents had enough evidence to charge Aron McKillips, of Sandusky, Ohio, with illegal possession of a machine gun and the interstate communication of threats. It said McKillips is a member of the Boogaloo Boys and is believed to be in a militia group called the Sons of Liberty.
McKillips' lawyer, Neil McElroy, said via email Wednesday that McKillips was taken into custody and that he has asked for McKillips to be released pending a Nov. 9 detention hearing in Toledo, Ohio.
The FBI contends that McKillips provided other members of the Boogaloo Boys equipment to convert rifles into machine guns, as on a trip to Lansing in April 2021. “I literally handed out machine guns in Michigan,” McKillips said in a recording, the complaint states.
In September 2021, he said in a private chat group, “Ain’t Got a federal badge off a corpse yet, so my time here ain’t near done yet lol,” according to the complaint.
In May of this year, McKillips and another user in the Signal messaging system threatened to kill a different Signal user in the belief the person was a federal informant, the complaint says. And in July, McKillips threatened in a Signal chat group that he would “smoke a hog,” meaning kill a police officer, if conditions worsened following a fatal police shooting in Akron in July, it says.
Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@amroberts
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Here's why the FBI arrested a Boogaloo Boy in metro Detroit
