5 more facing charges for 'animal sacrifice'

Nicole Iuzzolino
Daily Caller News Foundation

Another group of men have been indicted on charges of animal cruelty after conducting a “ritual sacrifice” at a white supremacist training camp in Georgia, ABC News reported.

The five men, Patrick Mathews, William Garfield Bilbrough IV, Brian Mark Lemley Jr., Brandon Gregory Ashley and Duncan Christopher Trimmell, were all charged with aggravated animal cruelty, ABC News reported. Trimmell was also charged with livestock theft by Floyd County prosecutors.

The five men join three others from North Georgia who had already been charged in 2019 with the sacrifice, the Rome News-Tribune reported. The link between the men was found after a picture of the ram’s severed head was shown on Bilbrough’s phone by a Maryland prosecutor.

The men were all part of The Base, a white supremacist organization that promoted using violence to overthrow the government, ABC News reported.

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Five more people have been indicted in the theft and killing of a ram during a white supremacist paramilitary training camp in 2019.https://t.co/FioLZRqZOb

— Rome News Tribune (@romenewstribune) April 16, 2021

Are white supremacist groups engaging in "ritual sacrifice" of livestock?

The alleged meeting took place on a 100 acre property owned by the family of Luke Lane, according to the Rome News-Tribune. The group first allegedly attempted to kill the ram with a knife, but after an unsuccessful attempt the ram was ultimately shot and beheaded.

The Georgia group have been held without bond for over a year, the Rome News-Tribune reported.

Mathews, Bilbrough and Lemley were also arrested in 2019 in Maryland, just one day after the North Georgia men were arrested on charges of conspiring to murder a couple with antifascist ties, according to the Rome News-Tribune. Mathews, who has not been implicated in the murder conspiracy charges, explained that he was frustrated after losing his job in the Canadian Armed Forces when it was found that he is a neo-Nazi, the Rome News-Tribune reported.

Since the 2019 arrests, the Base organization has largely disappeared from the web, the Rome News-Tribune reported. However, an Anti-Defamation League researcher stated that members of disbanded organizations tend to reappear in other white supremacist groups.

This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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