Seven Additional Defendants Also Sentenced Before One-Year Anniversary of Attack to a Combined 450 Years in Prison
Today,
before the one-year anniversary of their attack, eight North Texas
Antifa Cell operatives were sentenced for their roles in rioting, using
weapons and explosives, providing material support to terrorists,
obstruction, and the attempted murder of an Alvarado police officer at
the Prairieland Detention Center on July 4, 2025, announced United
States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.
This is the first sentencing of defendants affiliated with Antifa following President Donald J. Trump’s executive order designating the group as a Domestic Terrorist Organization in September 2025.
Benjamin
Hanil Song, who was convicted of the attempted murder of a law
enforcement officer, was sentenced to 100 years in prison. Together,
the Prairieland terrorists received a combined sentence of 450 years in
prison:
- Maricela Rueda was sentenced to 70 years in prison;
- Cameron Arnold was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
- Savanna Batten was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
- Zachary Evetts was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
- Bradford Morris was sentenced to 50 years in prison;
- Elizabeth Soto was sentenced to 50 years in prison; and
- Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
“The
sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who
attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and
uncompromising justice,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“Their violent extremism has no place in our country, and the Department
of Justice will continue to aggressively investigate, disrupt, and
prosecute those who threaten law enforcement officers or undermine the
rule of law.”
“These sentences justly punish the vicious, armed
attack that these Antifa cell members planned and executed against law
enforcement and detention center officers on the night of July 4th last
year,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of
Texas. “Their terrorist acts, attempted murder, vandalism, and
explosives launched at a detention facility were a far cry from a
peaceful protest or First Amendment expression. Because of the prompt
action of first responders that night and tenacious work of our law
enforcement partners, in tandem with the prosecutors in my office, eight
people have been rightly punished for these violent acts and their
attempts to conceal them. We will continue in this mission to hold
others accountable who perpetrate such violence and fund these ANTIFA
groups in the Northern District of Texas.”
“Today’s sentencings
show the FBI remains committed to identifying, locating, and dismantling
Antifa and its funding networks across the country,” said FBI Director
Kash Patel. “Acts of violence against our law enforcement partners will
not be tolerated, and we continue our work to protect communities across
the country from domestic terrorism.”
“The sentences handed down
today send an unmistakable message: Attacks on federal officers and
facilities will not be tolerated. The men and women of ICE serve with
integrity and courage, often in challenging and dangerous environments.
The calculated violence carried out by these Antifa cell members at
Prairieland was an assault on law enforcement and an attack on the rule
of law itself,” said Acting ICE Director David J. Venturella. “Nearly
one year after this cowardly act, justice has prevailed. ICE will
continue to stand firm against those who threaten our officers, our
facilities and our mission.”
The sentences follow a 12-day trial
that began on Feb. 23, where jurors heard testimony from 46 witnesses
and considered over 210 exhibits supporting the charges against nine
indicted defendants: Cameron Arnold, also known as Autumn Hill; Zachary
Evetts; Benjamin Song; Savanna Batten; Bradford Morris, also known as
Meagan Morris; Maricela Rueda; Elizabeth Soto; Ines Soto; and Daniel
Rolando Sanchez-Estrada. All were convicted. Ines Soto was granted a continuance and will be sentenced on July 1.
Seven
others, Seth Sikes, Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Susan Kent, Rebecca
Morgan, Lynette Sharp, and John Thomas, pleaded guilty prior to trial to
one count of providing material support to terrorists and they will be
sentenced on July 1.
Testimony and other evidence at trial
established that the defendants were members of a North Texas Antifa
Cell, part of a larger militant enterprise made up of networks of
individuals and small groups primarily ascribing to an ideology that
explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law
enforcement authorities, and the system of law. An expert testifying in
the government’s case told the jury that ANTIFA’s coordinated efforts
involve obstructing Federal law through organized riots, violent
assaults, and armed confrontations with law enforcement officers,
increasingly targeting agents and facilities related to the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement in
opposition to the agency’s deportation actions.
Evidence at
trial revealed that most of the ANTIFA Cell involved in the Prairieland
attack looked to Benjamin Song as a leader. Song acquired firearms that
he distributed to co-defendants and recruited members at gun ranges and
combat sessions he conducted, as well as from various ideologically
aligned groups. For example, defendants Ines Soto, Elizabeth Soto, and
Savanna Batten were part of a group that created and distributed
insurrectionary materials called “zines,” according to trial evidence.
Trial
testimony reflected that, late at night on July 4, 2025, at least
eleven of the defendants rioted and attacked the Prairieland Detention
Center in Alvarado, Texas, which the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security was using to house illegal aliens awaiting deportation. The
defendants dressed in “black bloc”—dark clothing with head and face
coverings that concealed their identities—designed to hide each
individual’s identity but also to aid and abet those members engaged in
illegal acts by making members indistinguishable from one another to law
enforcement. Evidence introduced at trial revealed that the defendants
brought eleven firearms, body armor, and eleven military-grade first
aid kits with tourniquets and other items to treat gunshot wounds to the
scene of the attack. Many of these items were introduced by the
government as exhibits. Additionally, DNA and fingerprint evidence
linked many of the defendants to the items at the scene, and evidence
obtained on phone locations supported that those who participated in the
attack all turned off their phones or placed them in Faraday bags to
prevent tracking on the night of the attack.
After ANTIFA Cell
members arrived at the detention facility, they began shooting off and
throwing fireworks (explosives) at the facility and vandalizing vehicles
and a guard shack on Prairieland property:
Witnesses testified that an Alvarado police officer responded to the
scene after correctional officers called 911. When the officer began
issuing commands to defendant Nathan Baumann, Benjamin Song can be heard
on police bodycam video yelling, “get to the rifles!” and then he
opened fire on the officers, striking the Alvarado police officer in the
neck as the unarmed correctional officers ducked and ran for cover.
Police arrested most of the Antifa Cell shortly after the attack, many
near the scene. Benjamin Song escaped and remained at large with the
help of others until his capture on July 15, 2025.
Trial
evidence demonstrated that collectively, this ANTIFA Cell acquired over
50 firearms in the Fort Worth/Dallas area prior to July 4. During
trial, the government introduced numerous chats of the members, who used
an encrypted messaging app to coordinate with each other that had
auto-delete functions, permanently deleting some Antifa Cell members’
communications. They also used monikers in group chats to hide their
identities, and some of the planning chats included only trusted
participants. The chats introduced at trial revealed that members in
this limited group conducted reconnaissance and discussed what to bring
to the riot, including firearms, medical kits, and fireworks:
Witnesses who testified during the government’s case included the
Alvarado police officer who was shot in the neck by Song, detention
officers present that night who also took cover from rapid fire,
multiple additional responding officers, numerous investigative agents,
and cooperating codefendants, including Baumann, Sharp, Thomas, and
Kent. Among other things, Kent testified that the night before the
attack at a “gear check,” Song proposed to free the detainees at the
Prairieland detention facility and told the group that they should wear
“black bloc” and bring rifles, because he (Song) wasn’t going to be
arrested. Evidence at trial also revealed that some of the defendants
attended a peaceful daytime protest at Prairieland on July 4—without the
gear they brought that night—and that they reported back to other
defendants details regarding security at the facility:
The sentences of the eight defendants were for the following offenses:
- Riot,
with the intent to commit an act of violence, involving conduct such as
shooting and throwing fireworks and explosives, slashing tires on a
government vehicle, spraying graffiti on property and vehicles,
destroying a closed-circuit camera, shooting at officers, and dressing
in black bloc.
- Defendants
convicted: Cameron Arnold, Zachary Evetts, Benjamin Song, Savanna
Batten, Bradford Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, and Ines Soto
- Providing Material Support to Terrorists,
including property, services, training, communications equipment,
weapons, explosives, personnel (including themselves), and
transportation.
- Defendants convicted: Arnold, Evetts, Song, Batten, Morris, Rueda, E. Soto, and I. Soto
- Conspiracy to Use and Carry an Explosive, and Using and Carrying an Explosive, during a riot.
- Defendants convicted: Arnold, Evetts, Song, Batten, Morris, Rueda, E. Soto, and I. Soto
- Attempted Murder of Officers and Employees of the United States,
involving the unlawful attempt to kill with malice aforethought an
Alvarado Police Officer who was assisting federal officers/agents.
- Defendant convicted: Song
- Discharging a Firearm During, and in Relation to, and in Furtherance of a Crime of Violence, i.e., the attempted murder of two correctional officers and an Alvarado Police Officer.
- Defendant convicted: Song
- Corruptly Concealing a Document or Record,
by transporting a box containing numerous Antifa materials, such as
insurrection planning, anti-law enforcement, anti-government, and
anti-immigration enforcement documents and propaganda from Sanchez
Estrada’s residence to a location in Denton, Texas, intending to conceal
the box’s contents and impair its availability for use in a federal
grand jury and federal criminal proceeding.
- Defendant convicted: Daniel Rolando Sanchez Estrada
- Conspiracy to Conceal Documents and other objects that would implicate Maricela Rueda in the riot and shooting at the Prairieland facility.
- Defendants convicted: Sanchez Estrada and Maricela Rueda
Defendants
Song, Morris, Rueda, and E. Soto were sentenced by U.S. District Court
Judge Mark T. Pittman for the Northern District of Texas. When imposing
the sentences, Judge Pittman said, “It’s by the grace of God that Song
is not dead. He managed to get 11 shots in seconds; then the officer
shooting blindly happened to hit the magazine well of Song’s rifle. Mr.
Song’s lucky he isn’t dead. We had a guardian angel that ensured that
Mr. Song isn’t dead, and we don’t have several deceased people at
Prairieland.”
Defendants Arnold, Evetts, Batten, and
Sanchez-Estrada were sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Reed
O’ Connor for the Northern District of Texas. When imposing the
sentences, Chief Judge O’ Connor said, “The defendants’ violence and
terrorism is an assault on Democracy. The defendants’ planning, staging,
and execution of the attack led to the attempted murder of an officer
who ironically is not even involved in enforcing immigration law.”
The
sole count of providing material support to terrorists brought in the
information against Baumann, Gibson, Kent, Morgan, Sharp, Thomas, and
separately, Sikes’s information, mirrors the material support offense in
the charges presented to the jury at trial. Each of these defendants
face a sentence of up to fifteen years in federal prison and will be
sentenced on July 1, 2026.
The investigation was conducted
by the FBI Dallas Field Office, Homeland Security Investigations Dallas,
ATF, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Alvarado Police
Department, and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance
from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal
Office (ICE ERO). Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank Gatto,
Shawn Smith, and Matt Capoccia for the Northern District of Texas are
prosecuting the case.
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