Two Members of White Supremacist Kehoe Family Sentenced on Weapons Charges
A federal judge in Arizona today handed down the maximum 10-year sentence to the patriarch of a family of white supremacists who have had run-ins with the law in various states over the past three decades.
Kirby K. Kehoe, 65, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow in Phoenix after pleading guilty in February to being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition. His son, Cheyne C. Kehoe, 35, was sentenced to 41 months in prison after pleading to being a felon in possession of firearms.
The father-son team struck plea bargains with federal prosecutors instead of going to trial on additional charges that were dismissed as part of the deal. Upon completion of their prison sentences, both will serve three years of supervised release.
The pair’s latest encounter with law enforcement came last October when heavily armed agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raided what was described as an “off-the-grid compound” 140 miles north of Phoenix, near Ash Fork, Ariz.
There, agents found what they described as a commercial-grade marijuana growing operation and an arsenal: 17 firearms and 16,891 rounds of ammunition, body armor and explosive powder.
The marijuana was being grown, processed and stored in various large, metal shipping containers that had been moved onto the property and concealed with camouflage netting.
Kirby Kehoe’s court-appointed attorney argued that federal prosecutors had failed to make a connection between the firearms and the marijuana growing operation, while federal prosecutors contended the weapons were to be used to defend the illegal operation. Nonetheless, Kirby Kehoe couldn’t legally possess firearms because of his prior convictions in the Eastern District of Washington for possessing homemade hand grenades and a modified, fully automatic assault rifle.
Kirby Kehoe agreed to forfeit ownership of a long list of firearms and ammunition to the government as part of his guilty plea.
Agents seized 15 pounds of marijuana but haven’t disclosed if they learned where Kirby Kehoe was selling the drug.
Cheyne Kehoe and his brother Chevie, who were introduced to the racist religion known as Christian Identity by their parents, were involved in a shootout with police in 1997 in Ohio, captured on a dashboard camera. Both fugitives were arrested and sent to prison after a nationwide manhunt.
Chevie Kehoe, who is serving life in prison for involvement with a terrorist cell called the Aryan Republic Army, was convicted in the torture-murder of an Arkansas gun dealer, his wife and their 8-year-old girl who was smothered after being shocked with a cattle prod. Chevie Kehoe also was implicated but never charged in connection with a pipe-bombing at Spokane’s City Hall.
Federal investigators determined that firearms and other militia supplies stolen from the gun dealer were sold at various gun shows by Kirby and Chevie Kehoe.
