A U.S. Army veteran was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday for possessing illegal high-powered firearms, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller.
29-year-old Kyle Christopher Benton was arrested in September 2024 after an investigation found he had unregistered rifles, one of which was modified to fire rapidly with one trigger pull like a machine gun, according to a release from the U.S. District Court.
Prosecutors say the guns were used to bolster his involvement with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist groups,
“You not only illegally possessed extremely dangerous firearms, but you bragged about it and put on firearms trainings for others while doing so,” U.S. District Judge Tana Lin said during the sentencing hearing.
Benton was investigated by the FBI following his discharge from the Army and after making threats to kill his wife, prosecutors say.
The investigation found that Benton used multiple social media accounts where he shared violent extremist content and neo-Nazi propaganda.
The Department of Justice says Benton also participated in “hate rallies” and gatherings across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho while he leveraged his military background to conduct firearms workshops for white supremacist groups.
On September 6, 2024, law enforcement seized a firearm resembling an M16 rifle and two short-barreled rifles, which were not registered as required by the National Firearms Act.
Benton pleaded guilty on March 28, 2025, to charges of Unlawful Possession of a Machinegun and Possession of an Unregistered Firearm.
In a letter to the court, Benton disavowed his white supremacist views, though the specifics of this disavowal were not detailed.
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