'He has changed his thinking and actually worked as a paid FBI informant who infiltrated the Charlotte chapter of the Proud Boys and gave agents valuable information about the organization...'
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A former member of the Proud Boys, the white nationalist Patriot Front and the neo-Nazi group The Base seeks a light sentence for his possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, citing his infected leg and his past work as an FBI informant as a reason to keep him out of jail.
The defendant, Michael Alan Jones, is set to be sentenced next week for unlawfully possessing a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, a charge stemming from a March 2022 traffic stop in upstate New York, where police officers allegedly found him in possession of an illegally modified AR-15.
Jones had previously been convicted of two felony sex crimes. His lawyer said Jones’s “then-minor girlfriend twice performed oral sex on him in the boys’ bathroom of their high school.”
Jones’s lawyer admitted in a recent letter that his client was a member of the Proud Boys.
“However, since that time, he has changed his thinking and actually worked as a paid FBI informant who infiltrated the Charlotte chapter of the Proud Boys and gave agents valuable information about the organization,” Jones’s lawyer said.
“Jones has since matured and no longer harbors these views. In fact, renouncing these views was a prerequisite for his parents allowing him to come back to their home after he was released from jail,” he said, omitting Jones’s past affiliations with the Patriot Front or The Base.
Jones is seeking “time served” as his sentence. He’s already served about six months in prison, and has been on home detention since last December, when his leg almost had to be amputated, according to his lawyer.
“Since returning home to North Carolina, the infection has subsided, but he is still going to weekly physical therapy appointments and wears an ankle-foot orthotic when he walks and another when he sleeps to help his healing,” Jones’s lawyer said Monday in a letter.
“Based on his previous history, the Court should consider that there is a real possibility that his leg may become re-infected at the BOP and the infection cycle will start over again.”
The Justice Department, for its part, is seeking 24- to 30-months imprisonment for Jones, arguing that such a punishment is consistent with sentencing guidelines.
Jones’s arrest last year reportedly made waves among the Proud Boys and other right-wing groups. The left-leaning media outlet Raw Story obtained leaked messages that showed them discussing Jones.
“They created a whole new degree of f—ed-upness,” a member identified as “Jimbob Smith” reportedly said on Telegram. “It’s a fed-ophile. It was a fed informant mixed with a pedophile. Only Charlotte can do that!”
Raw Story also reported that Jones “fought with the police alongside the Proud Boys at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.” Jones has not been charged in relation to J6.
