On Monday, Dec. 13, 2022, a federal jury in Florida convicted retired Jeremy Brown, 48, a retired Special Forces master sergeant, for possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun and an unregistered short-barreled rifle, two counts of possession of unregistered M67 fragmentation grenades, willful retention of national defense information, and illegal storage of explosives. Coffee or Die composite image by Kenna Lee.
A federal jury in Florida has convicted a retired Special Forces master sergeant for possessing classified files and outlawed weapons, including US Army frag grenades, a sawed-off shotgun, and an unregistered short-barreled rifle.
But the verdict rendered Monday, Dec. 12, in Tampa, also found Jeremy Michael Brown, 48, not guilty on four counts of gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information.
Sentencing is slated for March 13 before US District Judge Susan C. Bucklew. Brown faces up to 51 years behind bars. He’s been incarcerated in the Pinellas County Jail since his arrest by federal agents on Sept. 30, 2021.
“It would not be appropriate to comment with a sentencing pending,” Brown’s defense attorney, Roger Futerman, said in an email to Coffee or Die Magazine.
He declined to say if Brown planned to appeal the verdict.
On Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, a federal jury convicted a retired Special Forces master sergeant, Jeremy Brown, 48, of Tampa, for possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun and an unregistered short-barreled rifle, two counts of possession of unregistered M67 fragmentation grenades, willful retention of national defense information and illegal storage of explosives. Coffee or Die Magazine composite.
The conviction isn't Brown's only legal woe.
Federal prosecutors in Washington charged him last year with storming the Capitol Building with other rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, to halt the transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.
They’re classified as “petty offenses” by authorities and a status hearing is slated for Dec. 19 in that case, but his attendance at the Capitol Hill “Stop the Steal” rally as a member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, plus a tip from an acquaintance, triggered a deeper probe by the FBI.
On Sept. 30, 2021, agents arrested Brown at his girlfriend’s home in Tampa on a federal warrant from the magistrate in Washington, DC.
He was detained without incident. But agents searching the home, his recreational vehicle, and a black trailer uncovered a Palmetto Armory 5.56mm caliber PA-15 rifle with 6 inches chopped off the barrel; a CBC Industries .410-gauge SB42Y sawed-off shotgun; two M67 fragmentation grenades; boxes of ammo; bear spray; stacks of cash; and tactical gear.
Federal prosecutors say they can place Jeremy Brown, a retired Special Forces master sergeant tied to the Oath Keepers movement, inside the Capitol Building during the "Stop the Steal" protests on Jan. 6, 2021. US Department of Justice photos.
It’s illegal to own firearms with drastically shortened barrels, unless the guns are specially registered with the feds. It’s also unlawful to keep US Army frag grenades and stow them in the bedroom of a civilian’s house.
The agents also turned up a Special Forces sniper training manual and a trip report Brown wrote shortly before he retired in 2012 that contained what prosecutors said was “highly sensitive information” that exposed intelligence techniques and procedures that could spark the arrest, torture, or killing of a human source if revealed.
A Kentucky native, Brown served two decades in the US Army. He briefly was an infantryman before spending the bulk of his career in Special Forces.
His decorations include Bronze Star Medals for both exemplary service and combat heroism.
On Monday, Dec. 13, 2022, a federal jury in Florida convicted retired Jeremy Brown, 48, a retired Special Forces master sergeant, for possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun and an unregistered short-barreled rifle, two counts of possession of unregistered M67 fragmentation grenades, willful retention of national defense information, and the illegal storage of explosives. US Department of Justice photos.
But a string of bond hearings also revealed Brown's troubled transition from the military.
In 2014, while he was fighting a bitter divorce, Brown was involuntarily committed to a mental health facility for three days of observation, and then released.
In early 2019, his girlfriend filed a missing person report after the armed Brown pedaled away on a black bicycle, towing a black cart holding his belongings.
She told Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies he’d done that annually for five years in the wake of the divorce.
According to the incident file, Brown suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts. He’d once fled to Key West and bought a carbon monoxide kit to kill himself, but he didn’t go through with it, a deputy wrote.
On Monday, Dec. 13, 2022, a federal jury in Florida convicted retired Jeremy Brown, 48, a retired Special Forces master sergeant, for possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun and an unregistered short-barreled rifle, two counts of possession of unregistered M67 fragmentation grenades, willful retention of national defense information, and the illegal storage of explosives. US Department of Justice photo.
Brown's girlfriend assumed he’d hide in the woods until the mood passed or his “military friends talk to him and talk him out of hurting himself.”
He’d sent her a photo taken in a forest. He was surrounded by “bamboo stalks,” a deputy wrote. Law enforcement was warned to be on the lookout for a “missing endangered adult.”
But he wasn’t missing for long. Two days later, Tampa Police officers found him at a Quality Inn. He agreed to voluntarily undergo another mental health screening at a US Department of Veterans Affairs hospital and was released after three days.
Later that year, his girlfriend’s sister filed a domestic violence temporary restraint order on Brown. It was later dismissed, and the cops returned the retired soldier’s confiscated firearms to him.
A 2020 run for a congressional seat as a Republican fizzled.
On Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, in Florida, a federal jury convicted Jeremy Brown, 48, of Tampa, for possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun and an unregistered short-barreled rifle, two counts of possession of unregistered M67 fragmentation grenades, willful retention of national defense information and illegal storage of explosives. The retired Special Forces master sergeant has portrayed himself as a political prison. Prosecutors have painted him as a danger to himself and the community. Coffee or Die Magazine composite.
In early 2021, Brown briefly posted a sign on the door to his girlfriend's house, warning agents from the FBI, the US Department of Homeland Security, and the US Marshals Service, plus deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, to “Re-read your Oath.”
“You are being used as a pawn by the Enemies of this Republic and your Liberties,” it continued. “If you don’t care and say to yourself, ‘I’m just following orders,’ then Go Fuck yourself. P.S. Better bring a bigger Tactical PACKAGE.”
Although Brown took it down seven months before the feds raided his girlfriend’s home, authorities considered that placard a threat, one punctuated by what appeared to be incendiary messages he was sending to pals in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.
One post claimed he was preparing to “train, advise, assist and lead resistance elements during the coming (in progress) collapse of America due to a half-century Globalist infiltration that is now culminating in a full on Geopolitical, Economic, Psychological/Propaganda, Biological and Strategic Military attack to remove America as the final barrier to Global Government and oppression.”
On Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, in Florida, a federal jury convicted Jeremy Brown, 48, of Tampa, for possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun and an unregistered short-barreled rifle, two counts of possession of unregistered M67 fragmentation grenades, willful retention of national defense information and illegal storage of explosives. While prosecutors have painted the retired Special Forces master sergeant as an armed Oath Keeper who's a danger to himself and the community, he calls himself as political prisoner who landed in legal hot water for refusing to spy for the FBI. Coffee or Die Magazine composite.
While prosecutors have sought to paint the retired Special Forces operator as a heavily armed and increasingly radicalized member of an extremist anti-government organization, his friends and supporters have taken a different view.
Before his indictments on the Capitol Hill trespassing and federal weapons charges, Brown had no rap sheet.
And when he ran a limousine company, he gave out free rentals for funerals of law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.
In 2014, the Clearwater Fraternal Order of Police named him the post’s Person of the Year.
On Monday, Dec. 12, 2022, a federal jury in Florida convicted Jeremy Brown, 48, of Tampa, for possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun and an unregistered short-barreled rifle, two counts of possession of unregistered M67 fragmentation grenades, willful retention of national defense information, and illegal storage of explosives The retired Special Forces master sergeant has portrayed himself as a political prisoner. Prosecutors have painted him as a danger to himself and the community. Coffee or Die Magazine composite.
In an ongoing GiveSendGo crowdfunding campaign, Brown has portrayed himself as a “political prisoner.”
He claims to have recorded federal agents wooing him to become a confidential informant, which is what triggered the provocative sign he placed on his girlfriend's door.
“I knew that going public against a corrupt FBI narrative would put my safety and freedom, as well as the safety of my family and friends in jeopardy but if not me then who?? I have prepared for this day and this is God's plan for me,” he wrote. “Liberty or Death! De Oppresso Libre, Rangers lead the way! MOLON LABE!”
He tried to parlay that cachet with a run from his jail cell as a Republican vying for a Florida state representative's seat. But on Nov. 8 the Democrat, Michele Rayner-Goolsby, the first openly queer Black woman to win a statehouse race, beat him.
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Carl Prine is a former senior editor at Coffee or Die Magazine. He has worked at Navy Times, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He served in the Marine Corps and the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. His awards include the Joseph Galloway Award for Distinguished Reporting on the military, a first prize from Investigative Reporters & Editors, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
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