Nevada teen faces accusations by anti-terrorism agents

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday pushed to keep behind bars an 18-year-old man who claims to be the leader of a small militia after his arrest by anti-terrorism agents on felony firearms and explosive charges.

Authorities said they have no information that Steven Matthew Fernandes posed an imminent threat to the community.

But during a Sept. 13 raid, FBI agents assigned to the Southern Nevada Joint Terrorism Task Force found explosive and bomb-making materials and devices in his bedroom, with a copy of "The Anarchist's Cookbook," according to court documents. The book explains how to manufacture explosives.

Agents also found a 12-gauge shotgun loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition and more than 44 more rounds of ammunition in his two-door, Saturn coupe, with five rifles, four handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition at his home.

Fernandes had bragged about owning a "fully automatic" rifle, which is illegal without a federal license.

Fernandes, who lives with his mother and stepfather, made "disturbing statements" to confidential FBI sources about this summer's Aurora, Colo., mass shooting and possible acts of domestic terrorism, federal prosecutors said in court papers Wednesday seeking his detention while he fights the criminal charges.

In chains and wearing a red polo shirt and black pants, Fernandes pleaded not guilty in court Wednesday to one count each of possession of unregistered firearms, making firearms in violation of the National Firearms Act and transporting explosive materials.

Fernandes politely answered questions from U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen, who set a Dec. 3 trial.

Leen put off the detention hearing the government wanted until Oct. 10 to give defense lawyer Crystal Eller a chance to prepare for it, but the magistrate ordered Fernandes to remain in custody until then. Eller declined comment afterward.

In their court papers, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas Dickinson and Patrick Walsh said a confidential FBI source provided an email from Fernandes in which he described himself as the commanding officer of the 327th Nevada Militia, an urban survivalist unit with six or seven members.

Fernandes referred to himself as a "scout sniper."

Fernandes, who worked at a local Radio Shack, said in the email that the group conducts explosive training so it can be ready to "go to war with the government" or "some invading asshole country," the prosecutors wrote.

Group members, according to Fernandes, are learning about the underground tunnel system in Las Vegas and preparing for a "total social collapse."

Another confidential FBI source reported that Fernandes claimed he could walk into a restaurant filled with people and "kill anybody without a round count," the prosecutors wrote.

Fernandes talked about the Aurora shootings, which killed 12 people and injured 58 others, and bragged, "I'll beat that record," the prosecutors added.

He is alleged to have told an FBI source that the hotel rooms at one prominent Strip resort are perfect for picking off tourists.

According to Fernandes, the rooms are "sound proofed so one could sit in the rooms all day long and shoot people on the Strip without anyone knowing where the bullets were coming from," the prosecutors wrote.

Faculty members at Fernandes' former high school told FBI agents that Fernandes claimed to be "proficient" at firing weapons because of his involvement with the Las Vegas police Explorer program and planned to join the U.S. Marines.

Dickinson and Walsh said one of the defendant's former classmates described him as "crazy."

Teachers, the prosecutors said, saw him as appearing "wound too tight," and they "always kept an eye on him."

After his arrest last month, Fernandes admitted that he had made napalm and manufactured and detonated explosive devices, the prosecutors wrote.

He told agents that he had sent photos of the devices to an associate in Utah, prosecutors said.

The items agents found during the search of his home were "consistent with the manufacturing of destructive, explosive, incendiary and noxious gas releasing devices," according to the prosecutors.

That included: napalm, ammonium sulfate, sulfur, sodium sulfate, smokeless powder, bomb-making tools, radios, old cellular phones and inert hand grenades.

Fernandes told a confidential FBI source that he had made 69 pipe bombs and possessed chlorine bombs, Dickinson and Walsh wrote.

His transportation of destructive devices, "small arsenal of weapons and ammunition," combined with his many "disturbing statements," makes him a danger to himself and the community, the prosecutors concluded.

Contact reporter Jeff German at jgerman@review
journal.com or 702-380-8135.