Man with ties to extremist group sentenced on weapons charge

By JOHN RABY
Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia man who was accused of selling machine gun conversion devices to followers of a far-right extremist movement has received a five-year prison sentence. Timothy John Watson pleaded guilty in March in federal court in Martinsburg to possession of an unregistered firearm silencer. Prosecutors say Watson made and sold hundreds of the devices used to convert semi-automatic AR-15 rifles into fully automatic machine guns to nearly 800 people. Some of those included supporters of the anti-government “boogaloo” movement. Watson was ordered to forfeit the silencer, 3D printers and parts along with seized items that prosecutors claim are conversion devices.