Former Guardsman linked to neo-Nazi group

Affidavits: Missouri soldier provided training in Florida

A former Missouri National Guard soldier soon may be appearing in a Florida criminal case filed against members of a reported neo-Nazi group.

More than a dozen Florida residents, and one Californian, were charged in May for a variety of crimes under Florida law including hate crimes and training as a paramilitary group.

In two different affidavits filed as part of the Florida case, investigators say that Missourian Ryan Riley provided some military training in Florida to members of a group known as the "American Front," or AF, which is described as a "white supremacist organization."

The documents identify Riley as a Missouri National Guard specialist who "became interested in protecting the White race during his first Army tour in Iraq in 2008, after growing angry and frustrated over the alleged racial hypocrisies he perceived were occurring within both the United States and U.S. military."

Riley is not named as a defendant in the case.

Maj. Tammy Spicer, the Missouri National Guard's spokeswoman, said this week that a soldier identified as Ryan Riley was a member of Company A, 1/138th Infantry Regiment based in Boonville.

"The member's enlistment with the Missouri National Guard ended on May 25th (2012)," she said in an e-mail Friday to the News Tribune.

However, she could not confirm that the Ryan Riley who left the Missouri Guard just over two months ago was the same "Ryan Riley" identified in the Florida investigation reports.

Nor could she confirm information in a Wednesday story on the "Talking Points Memo" website's "TPMMuckraker" blog that the "Ryan Riley" mentioned in the Florida investigation had "returned home to Jefferson City."

Spicer said in her e-mail Friday: "The Missouri National Guard completed an investigation into the matter. ... No further information can be released because it involves a personnel matter."

A woman who answered the phone at a home where a Ryan Riley lives in Jefferson City hung up when a reporter started to ask if there was any connection.

The charges were filed in Florida in early May, after a joint terrorism investigation by the FBI and Florida authorities.

The TPMMuckraker and "Mother Jones" websites carried stories in May about the arrests of and charges filed against Marcus Faella, his wife, Patricia Faella, and others. Those stories included references to Riley.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper also published a story in May, referencing Riley without naming him.