An Army veteran from Snohomish, Kyle Christopher Benton, has been sentenced to two years in prison for illegal possession of high-powered firearms. The sentence was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller and delivered in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Benton, 29, was arrested in September 2024 after an investigation into his activities involving weapons both online and in person.
Benton possessed unregistered short barrel rifles and machineguns capable of firing multiple rounds with a single trigger pull. These weapons were used to further his standing with racially or ethnically motivated extremist groups espousing white supremacy.
U.S. District Judge Tana Lin stated at the sentencing hearing, “You not only illegally possessed extremely dangerous firearms, but you bragged about it and put on firearms trainings for others while doing so.”
The FBI’s investigation began after Benton was discharged from the United States Army and threatened to kill his wife. It revealed that Benton operated social media accounts posting violent extremist content, neo-Nazi propaganda, and anti-Semitic materials. He participated in hate rallies across Oregon, Washington, and Idaho promoting white supremacist views. Leveraging his military background, he conducted firearm workshops for these groups.
On September 6, 2024, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Benton’s home in Snohomish. They seized a firearm resembling an M16 rifle that fired automatically, an uninstalled drop-in auto sear (which converts a gun to fire like a machinegun), and two rifles with barrels shorter than 16 inches—firearms required to be registered under the National Firearms Act.
Benton pleaded guilty on March 28, 2025, to unlawful possession of a machinegun and possession of an unregistered firearm.
Assistant United States Attorney Brian Wynne requested a 30-month sentence stating that “while Benton was in possession of these weapons,” he actively engaged with groups promoting racially or ethnically motivated violence and white supremacy using his military experience to establish himself within these groups through workshops and tactical training sessions.
In court correspondence, Benton now disavows his previous white supremacist views.
The FBI investigated the case which was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Brian J. Wynne.
