FBI agents came for the threats against Boston Muslims, stayed for the gun violations

FBI agents investigating a Wilmington man for threats he allegedly made against a Roxbury mosque and an Islamic student group at Northeastern soon discovered he was also having lots of fun with guns - which he wasn't supposed to, given that he's a convicted felon.

Patrick Keogan, 44, an electrician who works on high-voltage wires, was charged this week in US District Court in Boston with making threats against the Islamic Society of Boston and being a felon in possession of ammunition. He's the second person in a little more than a year charged with threatening the mosque on Facebook.

In an affidavit, an FBI agent who investigated Keogan wrote the case began in November of last year, when the Islamic Society of Boston contacted the FBI over a threatening message posted to the mosque's Facebook page on Nov. 14, the day after the Paris terrorist attacks:

Although it is not uncommon for the ISBCC to receive hateful and anti-Muslim messages, the Executive Director’s initial reaction to this post was fearful because the post occurred in the immediate aftermath of the November 13, 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, which authorities attributed to Muslim extremists. The Marketing Director subsequently notified federal law enforcement authorities and removed the post from the ISBCC Facebook page per ISBCC policy. ...

In addition, on November 17, 2015, the Northeastern University Police Department received a report that a person named Patrick Keogan, with the same profile photo, posted the same threatening message on the Facebook page of the Islamic Society of Northeastern University (ISNU).

Keogan also "liked" his post on the mosque Facebook page.

The FBI looked up the screen name of the Facebook posting in RMV records and found a guy with a similar picture and a Wilmington address - and learned that in 2013, the bureau had investigated Keogan for making threats against an unspecified congressman and that in an interview, he acknowledged "he is often vocal about his political beliefs, especially when drinking." In December of last year, FBI agents chatted with Keoghan again, on the phone:

Keogan said that he had reposted the burning mosque picture on Facebook after the Paris attacks. Keogan said that he had been upset and "dicking around online." Keogan said that he was sorry and that he needs to smarten up as he is too old to act this way. Keogan also said that he does not intend to harm Muslims or commit any damage to mosques.

After getting a warrant to search all of Keogan's postings on Facebook, agents learned he'd been "dicking around" with anti-Moslem posts for several years:

The PatKeogan account contains records that approve of burning mosques as early as 2013. On or about August 30, 2013, the PatKeogan account shared a post saying that "someone vandalized the Islamic Center of Burlington's sign (that is placed at the mosque's entrance) overnight with white spray paint," about which the PatKeogan account user said "WHOEVER DID THIS I FUCKING LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1." In a comment on the post, the PatKeogan account user wrote, "I drive past thes [sic] all the time & have always wanted to run the fucking sign over."

The affidavit adds:

The PatKeogan account also contained posts deriding the Jewish faith, "brown people," homosexuals and liberals.

The agent who wrote the affidavit acknowledged that much of what he wrote is protected under the First Amendment, but said he cited it to buttress his case that the specific threats - which are not protected speech - were written by Keogan.

While browsing his Facebook posts, FBI agents found evidence he was also getting closer to guns than he should, given his status as a convicted felon - he has a 2006 conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and a 2000 conviction for OUI.

Keogan frequently posted photographs of his weapons and also discussed obtaining weapons and weapon accoutrements, building weapons, and shooting his weapons. For example, on or about June 21, 2013, Keogan posted a photograph showing the remnants of what appears to be several shaving cream cans at a rifle range, accompanied by the comment, "160 rounds thru the AR-10. Kicks like a mule, cycled 100% flawless. Took the stay puff marshmallow man down. Bled out like a stuck pig. Gongs? 20/20 every time. Sounded sweet.

BOOM-K'TING! How's the work day going? Ima go grab a cold one..."

Based on my training and experience, and taking in context the photograph and other content within the search warrant return, I understand the comment and picture to mean that Keogan shot 160 rounds of ammunition from an AR-10. An AR-10 is an assault rifle manufactured by Armalite that fires large-caliber 7.62 x 51mm (.308 caliber) rounds. ...

One of Keogan's friends responded, "I am glad to see you are buying an AR-15." Keogan replied, "I am building a Beowulf" and "It's an AR-10. 22's are for phagits." Based on the context and my training and experience, I understand that a Beowulf is a model of firearm, and that Keogan was claiming that he was building an AR-10 rifle rather than buying an AR-15 rifle, which he disparages with the term "phagit" because AR-10 rifles fire larger ammunition than do AR-15 rifles (.308 caliber versus .223 caliber (a/k/a .22 caliber)).

The affidavit asserts that sometimes, Keogan combined his love of guns with his love of hatred:

On or about September 26, 2015, Keogan posted a photograph depicting six black rifles and one black shotgun lined up on a wooden floor, with the caption "My black friends."

On or about the same day, Keogan posted a photograph under the caption "This is what I feed 'em," which appears to depict dozens of boxes of ammunition on at least five shelves with small placards that appear to identify the various calibers of ammunition, as well as ammunition on the floor. Based on my training and experience, and taking both photographs in context, I believe that the caption to the second photograph is intended to convey that he uses the firearms depicted in the first picture to shoot the ammunition depicted in the second picture.

On or about the same day, Keogan posted a photograph of what appears to be himself standing in a residence and smiling while holding an AK-47-style assault rifle attached to four high-capacity firearm magazines taped together to form a Nazi swastika, under the caption "Swastimag is best mag."

But none of this is resulted in his being charged for ammunition possession. That came from his alleged May 1, 2016 visit to a gun shop in Plaistow, NH - which the FBI knows about because by that time, they'd received a court order to put a surreptitious GPS device on his car. He chatted up the clerk for awhile, then bought "two boxes of ammunition, the plastic bags of loose ammunition, and what appeared to be several packages of beef jerky, all with cash."

The bags contained "20 to 25 rounds apiece of corroded World War II-era junk 8mm rifle ammunition."

Innocent, etc.