A member of Aryan Strikeforce pleads guilty to federal drug charge
A member of the New Jersey-based Aryan Strikeforce has pleaded guilty to transporting more than a pound of methamphetamine as part of a drug- and gun-running operation on the East Coast.
A federal judge on Wednesday accepted the plea of Henry Lambert Baird of Brown Mills, New Jersey, who faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann did not immediately set a sentencing date for Baird.
Baird, 50, is the third member of the group to plead guilty to drug offenses as part of the case against Aryan Strikeforce.
The group’s founder, 38-year-old Joshua Michael “Hatchet” Steever of Manville, New Jersey, and Connor Drew Dykes, 20, of Silver Spring, Maryland, entered guilty pleas in federal court in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on April 24.
Both face a minimum of 10 years in federal prison and at least five years of supervised release after getting out. No sentencing date has been set for Steever or Dykes.
Three other members of the group are awaiting trial, but no date has been set for that proceeding.
The initial charges against the group’s members outlined a multi-state conspiracy to buy and sell guns and sell drugs and move weapons between New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia to fund the activities of the Aryan Strikeforce.
Prosecutors allege the group obtained and stored firearms in homes in Potter County and Allentown, Pennsylvania, and in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
Among the weapons cited by prosecutors in the case were several 9mm pistols and a Western Auto 12-gauge shotgun.
Prosecutors said the group laundered the drug proceeds by taking the cash and buying pre-paid Visa gift cards at a variety of stores.
The FBI and state law enforcement agencies, using undercover informants, determined that Aryan Strikeforce traveled to Potter County in north-central Pennsylvania for weapons training and other things.
The other three Aryan Strikeforce members — Justin Daniel “Rocko” Lough, of Waynesboro, Virginia, Jacob Mark “Boots” Robards of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Stephen Davis of Bumpass, Virginia — are either challenging the validity of the indictment or awaiting trial.
The six accused are members of the Aryan Strikeforce and the Eastern Service Unit of Combat 18.
