A federal judge last month sentenced a member of the Massachusetts-based Nationalist Social Club to 37 months in prison after he admitted to being a felon in possession of a firearm and obtaining and possessing an unregistered firearm.
Michael Moura, 29, of Stoughton was nabbed at a Brockton ATM in 2021 following an elaborate sting operation by FBI domestic-terrorism agents investigating local extremist groups. Agents convinced him they were running a counterfeit-currency ring for which he could earn enough money ferrying fake bills around to pay for the AR-15 and Glock handgun he claimed he needed to defend himself from the Biden administration, according to an affidavit by an FBI agent on the case.
As a member of the Nationalist Social Club, which members call NSC 131 because of the Nazi love of making up acronyms with numbers that have some sort of significance, at least to them, Moura would strut around various political rallies in the Boston area with others members parading their obscure Nazi banners with symbols like the Sonnenrad.
One of the agents befriended Moura, who told him of his need for weaponry – and his lack of money to buy guns because he was newly released from jail after serving time for criminal harassment of his girlfriend – including cutting her car’s brake lines while she was at a concert in Worcester.
The agent and colleagues created the bogus counterfeit-bills scheme to get Moura the money he would need to buy the guns – from a dealer who was also an undercover agent.
On April 2, 2021, Moura got one of his assignment: Move $100,000 in counterfeit money from Newport, RI to Brockton. A couple of weeks later, an agent texted him and asked if he still wanted the gun, Moura said yes and arranged to meet with the agent to buy the gun at the same Brockton location – the Westgate Mall. Moura brought $600 in real money – his earnings from the scheme – paid to an agent who handed over a black hockey back with the two weapons and ammo and then the agent gave him a ride to a nearby ATM. Moura never made it to the bank machine, though – as he got out of the agent’s car, other agents swarmed him and arrested him.
Because of his conviction in the case involving his then girlfriend, Moura was officially considered a felon, and federal law bans felons from possession of guns, even if just for a short ride from a mall parking lot to an ATM.
A federal judge agreed to have Moura held without bail pending the outcome of his case as a potential menace to society. He agreed to plead guilty in June.
Because of the time he’s already spent behind bars, Moura is scheduled for release on Dec. 13, 2023, according to Bureau of Prison records, which say he is now being held at a federal prison in Brooklyn, NY.
After its release, Moura will be on probation for three years. As part of his sentence, Judge George O’Toole ordered Moura to sign up for an “intimate partner abuse prevention” program during his probation.
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