Member of the Alabama Militia Was Caught in Georgia for Having a Gun Without a Permit While Trying to Buy a Horse

FITZGERALD, Ga. — He went from his home in Corinth, Mississippi, to Fitzgerald in Ben Hill County in 2022 to buy a horse and “get off the grid,” according to the police.

Though, he got a lot more than he asked for.

Not on horseback, though. Instead, he was arrested by FBI agents for having a gun illegally while a convicted felon, federal officials say.

But they say the government was watching Colston because he was part of an “anti-government extremist organization” that planned to kidnap federal officials but it never happened.

A press statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia said that Colston learned on Thursday that he will spend four years in federal prison for illegally having a gun.

Police say Colston took part in a conversation on the private voice chat app Zello for a group called “NCM,” which stands for the National Constitutional Milia.

Federal leaders were supposed to be attacked and kidnapped on Thanksgiving Day 2022, according to prosecutors. However, the plan was never carried out because of “the group’s lack of resources and the poor health of the members,” the press release said.

Prosecutors say Colston was caught when he went from Mississippi to Fitzgerald to buy a horse. He said he was going to ride it across the U.S. for several years as part of a plan to “go off the grid.”

They say Colston had been convicted of theft and mischief in Texas before. Federal law says that people who have been convicted of a crime can’t have a gun.

Federal agents caught him with five guns while he was in Georgia. The news release said they found two semiautomatic pistols, a semiautomatic shotgun, a lever action rifle, and a semiautomatic rifle that had been reported stolen out of Mississippi.

Prosecutors also say he had a bulletproof vest and more than 3,500 rounds of ammo on him. The FBI also thought Colston knew how to use explosives.

It was in October 2023 that Colston admitted to having a gun while being a convicted felon. On Thursday, he was given a four-year prison term by U.S. District Judge Leslie Gardner.