KENOSHA, Wis. — On Thursday, Dec. 29, Michael Karmo, 42, of Hartsville, Missouri, was sentenced to 64 months in federal prison.
Karmo was sentenced to federal prison for unlawfully possessing firearms despite a prior felony conviction after pleading guilty to that offense earlier this year.
According to court filings, during the summer of 2020, Karmo was intrigued by the unrest taking place in various cities across the United States.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), on July 1, 2020, he texted a friend that he wanted to hurt protestors and indicated that he had been "driving across America to going to where they were rioting the hardest."
On Aug. 31, 2020, Karmo and a friend decided to drive from Missouri to Wisconsin to the scene of the Kenosha unrest. Prior to leaving, Karmo sent photos of himself and his friend with long guns, and a firearm with a large drum that he referred to as the "game changer" to a woman in Iowa, the DOJ says.
The Iowa woman became concerned and called the police after Karmo and his friend visited her.
FBI agents later arrested Karmo and his friend in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.
According to a news release, at the time of their arrest, Karmo and his friend were possessing the following (among other items):
- AR-15 assault rifle
- 12-gauge shotgun
- two 9mm handguns
- 67 rounds of 9mm ammunition
- 131 shotgun shells
- (what appeared to be) a homemade silencer
- multiple high-capacity magazines
- a firearm muzzle attachment
- a drone
- body armor
- tactical gear
- a dagger
- a confederate flag among
Karmo's phone also contained videos where Karmo detailed the firearms he brought to Kenosha, talked about being on the streets "when the thugs come out", and said that he would be ready to act if police and National Guard were not "handling business", referred to protestors as "a bunch of victims", and expressed a desire to "lay out" a protestor that was chanting "Justice for Jacob Blake".
Following his time in federal prison, Karmo will be under two years of supervised release.
