Texas bodybuilder linked to 'Boogaloo movement' is charged with running steroid trafficking ring, feds say
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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.
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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.”
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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.”