The man found the weapon on a table and jokingly put it to his head, authorities said. Credit: Shutterstock / Schmidt_Alex

A Castroville man accused of posting “anti-government and pro-white” messages online and sharing social media posts urging others to blow up infrastructure, was sentenced to five years in prison on a weapons charge.

Buel DeWayne Smiley, 63, was sentenced in federal court this week on one count of felon in possession of a firearm, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Monday.

Smiley drew the attention of the FBI after people reported his online messages, which included him showing off books on how to make “improvised munitions and chemicals that could be used as precursors to make explosives,” according to authorities. What’s more, Smiley, who’s a convicted felon, appeared to brandish firearms in his posts.

FBI agents later observed Smiley on his property with a gun that appeared to be the one he displayed online, according to details shared by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The FBI arrested Smiley on March 9 and a search of his home turned up loaded firearms, boxes of ammunition, books or instruction manuals about making improvised explosives, lab equipment and chemical precursors to homemade explosives, authorities said.

Smiley pleaded guilty to the firearms charge on Aug. 15.

“This is a great example of ‘If you see something, say something,’” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas Jaime Esparza said in a written statement. “Thanks to a concerned member of the community who was alarmed by the defendant’s social media broadcasts calling for political violence, the FBI was able to investigate and arrest the defendant for illegally possessing firearms before he could do further harm to the community.”

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This article appears in Dec 13-26, 2023.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...