Ex-Marine, 38, is sentenced to six years for running a 'firearms and ammunition factory' - discovered by FBI agents after he was kicked out of an armed border 'militia'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7411777/Ex-Marine-kicked-armed-border-group-jailed-weapons-charges.html

• Joshua Pratchard, 38, was sentenced to 75 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to 13 weapons charges 
• Pratchard, a dishonorably discharged Marine with a criminal past, tried to join a civilian border patrol group in Arizona, but was ejected for anger issues
• He was asked to leave after expressing a desire to detain migrants 'hands-on' and use a silencer on his weapon 
• The group included an FBI informant, who befriended Pratchard, leading to his arrest in June 2018 
• FBI raided Pratchard's home in San Diego and found an armory with equipment to build firearms and enough gunpowder to make about 9,000 bullets

He was asked to leave Arizona Border Recon after just a few days for allegedly wanting to physically detain migrants in a manner he described as 'hands-on,' confront drug traffickers known colloquially as 'rip crews' and use a silencer on his weapon, reported Arizona Daily Star.

When told by the leader of the group, Tim Foley, that he could not engage migrants that way, Pratchard grew 'visibly angry,' which drew the attention of an FBI informant who was in attendance at that meeting, according to court records.

The informant befriended the disgruntled would-be vigilante and the two went on several reconnaissance missions along the border in the spring of 2018 after Pratchard was ejected from Foley's group for bringing a gun equipped with a silencer.

Foley previously denied that his group is a 'militia' and insisted that its actions are lawful.

During one of Pratchard and the informant's independent patrols, the former Marine allegedly bragged that he had an armory set up at home where he had been building firearms for friends and family.

Pratchard's past criminal record included two felony convictions for selling ecstasy pills and brutally beating a man, which barred him from owning guns. That is why he decided to manufacture his own weapons, telling the informant: 'They just get addicting, and you can’t stop.' 

He even engraved his homemade guns with fake serial numbers comprised of his wife and toddler son's dates of birth, according to the prosecution. 

Pratchard was arrested outside the Casino Del Sol in Tucson in June 2018 with a .45-caliber pistol, a short-barreled rifle, another rifle and 300 rounds of ammunition in his truck.

When federal agents raided his home in San Diego, they discovered what prosecutors described as a 'firearms and ammunition factory' stocked with eight guns - four of them registered to the man's wife - pieces of equipment used to build firearms and enough gunpowder to make about 9,000 bullets, reported The Washington Post. 

In February, Pratchard pleaded guilty to 13 counts, including possession of a firearm by a felon, unlicensed transfer of a firearm and possessing an unregistered firearm.

His defense argued that the former Marine had struggled with untreated mental illness for most of his life and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Since his arrest, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.