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A Tooele County man has been charged by federal prosecutors with attempting to use an explosive device at a BLM facility along the Arizona Strip that he had scouted with Robert LaVoy Finicum in October 2015 — an effort that was foiled because his militia group had been infiltrated by the FBI.
William Keebler, 57, of Stockton, was arrested early Wednesday morning in Nephi and has an initial appearance scheduled Thursday in U.S. District Court.
The crime is punishable by from five to 20 years in a federal prison. He was being held in Salt Lake County jail.
Charging documents say Keebler is the commander of a citizen militia group headquartered in Stockton. He was present at the April 2014 standoff with federal land administrators near the Bunkerville, Nev. ranch of Cliven Bundy, and was an associate of Finicum, who was killed in late January by Oregon state police after he tried to avoid their roadblock in eastern Oregon amid an occupation of a federal wildlife refuge. The Tribune wrote about Keebler in December 2011 when he worked as an outfitter guiding coyote sport hunters.
FBI undercover employees became members of Keebler's "Patriots Defense Force," charging documents say, and trained for an "anti-government action" where, Keebler told them, they would be "going on the offensive."
Keebler's group scouted the BLM office in the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City as a potential target but found it to be unsuitable due to the commercial and homeless activity, charging documents state.
In March, charging documents say that Keebler told the group it would target BLM facilities in "the middle of nowhere," damaging vehicles and buildings. He asked a militia member to build an explosive device
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