“The Base” Member Sentenced in Tuscola County
Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office has announced that 19-year-old Tristan Webb of Tuscola County has been sentenced on several charges related to his actions as a member of “The Base,” a national white supremacist group that advocates for violence against the government.
On Wednesday, Judge Amy Gierhardt deferred jail time for Webb and sentenced him to a lengthy probation term with strict supervision from the Court. Judge Gierhardt imposed the following sentence:
Count 2, Gang Felonies: Probation 5 years.
Count 3, Conspiracy to Train with Firearms for a Civil Disorder: Probation 3 years, 1 year of jail deferred.
Count 4, Felony Firearm: 2-year delay of sentence consecutive to the other counts.
Count 1, a charge of larceny against Webb, was dismissed as part of a plea agreement reached in May.
“My department will hold accountable any individual that commits crimes as part of a domestic terrorist organization,” said Nessel. “Make no mistake, these are violent gangs intent on harming others and their actions will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Nessel’s office said Webb got involved with The Base when he was 17 and hosted a “hate camp” in 2019. They said this case marks the first time in Michigan history that conspiring to train for a civil disorder has been charged.
Nessel said group’s name, “The Base, ” is the literal translation of “Al-Qaeda” in English. It was founded in 2018. She described it as a white supremacy gang that openly advocates for violence and criminal acts against the U.S., and purports to be training for a race war to establish white ethnonationalist rule in areas of the U.S., including Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She said the group also traffics in Nazi ideology and extreme anti-Semitism.