ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Five members of a white supremacist prison gang were found guilty Monday in an Anchorage federal court of crimes connected with 2017 kidnappings, assaults and a murder in Alaska.
The group was prosecuted together because their crimes were part of their affiliation with the 1488s, a “violent prison-based gang” organized around neo-Nazi symbols and ideology, lawyers with the Justice Department alleged.
The gang operated both inside and out of correctional facilities, prosecutors say.
A packed courtroom heard Monday’s verdict, which took more than 10 minutes to read given the number of defendants and the list of charges.
The 12-person jury found the defendants guilty on every charge against them, ranging from murder to kidnapping resulting in death to conspiracy in aid of racketeering.
The men include 45-year-old Filthy Fuhrer, who legally changed his name from Timothy Lobdell and was serving a 19-year sentence for attempting to kill an Alaska state trooper; Roy Naughton, 43; Glen Baldwin, 40; Colter O’Dell, 29; and Craig King, 56, who prosecutors say was part of the Hells Angels and not a formal member of the 1488s.
Prosecutors say two low-level 1488 members were kidnapped and assaulted at Fuhrer’s command in 2017 for tarnishing the gang’s reputation.
Later that summer, the defendants abducted 1488 member Michael Staton and brought him to a vacant Wasilla residence, authorities said. “King lined a room with plastic, where he and the 1488 defendants beat and tortured the victim. Baldwin and O’Dell then took the victim out to the woods, shot him, and burned his body.”
Sentencing was set for October but could be moved earlier, according to courtroom discussion after the verdict Monday.
At least one defense attorney said that her client plans to appeal.
“The combination of the charges and defendants was overwhelming,” said Cynthia Franklin, who represented King.
Franklin pointed to issues with pretrial conditions and the government’s decision to jointly charge the defendants.
“Evidence becomes difficult to separate,” she said.
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