A Texas bodybuilder who federal prosecutors say is “tied publicly with the anti-government Boogaloo movement” and tried to stir up “guerrilla warfare” against the National Guard has been charged with running a steroid trafficking ring.
Philip Russell Archibald, 29, of Lancaster, is now facing up to a decade in federal prison if convicted of conspiring to sell steroids, according to the United States Attorney's Office Northern District of Texas. He is currently being held at a jail outside of Dallas.
“At Mr. Archibald’s detention hearing, prosecutors argued that the defendant posed a threat to the community, noting that the defendant, who has been tied publicly with the anti-government Boogaloo movement, used his social media accounts to advocate vigilante ‘guerrilla warfare’ against the National Guardsman patrolling Black Lives Matter protests,” the office said in a statement.
Authorities say the so-called boogaloos are right-wing extremists bent on starting a civil war, who often wear Hawaiian shirts.
“In a recent Facebook post, he claimed to be ‘hunting Antifa’ and threatened to ‘kill’ looters,” the office added. “The Court granted the government’s motion and ordered Mr. Archibald detained pending trial.”
Danielle Bocanegra, 30, of Lampasas, was also charged as a co-conspirator.
Federal investigators, citing a criminal complaint, said that in March 2019 “agents discovered Mr. Archibald’s fingerprints on a zip-lock baggie filled with steroids, which Ms. Bocanegra sold to an undercover officer for $900.”
“In July 2019, agents followed Mr. Archibald from his residence to a local post office, where he allegedly mailed a priority mail flat rate box,” the attorney’s office adds. “Pursuant to a federal search warrant, the agents seized the parcel and sent the contents to the United States Postal Inspection Service Forensic Laboratory, which identified 64 red capsules containing oxandrolone, a known steroid compound.”
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And on June 8 this year, investigators found steroids and firearms during a search of Archibald’s home, prosecutors reportedly told a court.
“Drug trafficking and violence go hand in hand,” Steven S. Whipple, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Houston Division, said in a statement. “Whether we are talking about Mexican Cartels and methamphetamine or illegal steroids and vigilantes, all pose a real threat to the safety and security of our Nation.”