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Press Release

Florida Man Who Called for Race-Based Civil War Sentenced on Multiple Firearms Offenses

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida

Miami, Florida – Today, a South Florida federal district judge sentenced Paul Nicholas Miller, 33, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to 41 months’ imprisonment followed by three years’ supervised release for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon in 2018, possessing ammunition as a convicted felon in 2021, and possessing an unregistered short-barreled rifle in 2021.

Miller, who had previously been convicted of three separate felony offenses in New Jersey, took a live firearms training in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in January 2018, during which he fired a handgun. Miller then used the certificate of completion from this training to apply to Florida authorities for a concealed weapon license. In this application, Miller falsely affirmed that he had never been convicted of a felony. Florida authorities denied Miller’s application due to his prior felony convictions. Federal law enforcement then arrested Miller on March 2, 2021 after a federal grand jury returned an indictment in connection with Miller’s 2018 conduct.

After this arrest, law enforcement discovered an unregistered short-barreled rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition inside Miller’s home. Miller admitted that he had bought the ammunition and that he had tried to build his own rifle in part to learn about firearms manufacturing in preparation for a coming civil war. In the months immediately before his arrest, Miller had made hundreds of internet posts publicizing his animosity towards various minority groups and his support for the initiation of a race-based civil war in the United States.

A federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment adding two counts for Miller’s 2021 possession of the ammunition and the unregistered short-barreled rifle law enforcement found in his home. On June 22, Miller pled guilty to all three charges in the superseding indictment before U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal, who imposed today’s sentence.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George Piro, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) Miami Division, made the announcement.

FBI handled the investigation, with assistance from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kiran N. Bhat prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov, under case number 21-60067-CR-Singhal/Snow(s).

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Contact

Marlene Rodriguez
Special Counsel to the U.S. Attorney
Public Affairs Officer
USAFLS.News@usdoj.gov

Updated September 28, 2021

Topic
Firearms Offenses