Militia member who rushed to 'protect' the border found to have gun-making 'factory' in his home

The Arizona Daily Starreported Wednesday that a man who rushed to the border to battle undocumented immigrants was sentenced to six years in federal prison Wednesday.

The FBI did a months-long investigation into Joshua Pratchard, who was found to have a "firearms and ammunition factory" in his San Diego house.

Investigators began looking into Pratchard when he drove his truck from San Diego to Southern Arizona in Jan. 2018 to work with Arizona Border Recon, an armed group that does patrols of the border. Pratchard was eager to be "hands-on" with immigrants crossing the border, particularly bandits who steal drugs in the desert.

Sources told the paper that the FBI has agents embedded with the militia group and that's how they learned of Pratchard.

Investigators had a reason for concern after Pratchard "became visibly angry when he was told he could not have a silencer on his weapon" when patrolling the border, the FBI agent wrote. "He also became angry when he learned he could not go 'hands-on' with illegal aliens crossing the U.S.-Mexico border."

He was kicked out after a few days with the militia because he broke the rules. The FBI source then followed along with Pratchard, which is when he divulged that he builds weapons using fake serial numbers. He then sold two such firearms to the FBI agent and was arrested. When his home was searched, they found the arsenal, including 9,000 rounds of ammunition.

Pratchard said that he wasn't interested in using the guns, rather he liked building them.

Militia head Tim Foley couldn't be reached for comment, but in past interviews, he said that his group was not a militia.

Read the full report from The Arizona Daily Star.