The Virginia Kekoas, a pro-gun prepper militia based in Eastern Virginia and formerly affiliated with the Boogaloo movement, tells News2Share that they recently kicked out a member they believe may have been plotting an entrapment attempt against the group, or worse.
Russell Richardson Vane IV first made contact with the Virginia Kekoas in April 2022, according to the group’s leader Eddie Ray, who goes by “ICE” and member Cody Beckner, who goes by “Sasquatch.” Vane allegedly adopted the call sign “Duke.”
The pair provided extensive screenshots and documents showing that since joining, Vane – as “Duke” – engaged in an escalating sequence of unusual behavior that included apparent provocations for the group to develop homemade explosives. Homemade explosives lacking an ATF registration are generally a federal felony.
“Sasquatch” and “ICE” spoke exclusively to News2Share to provide a thorough timeline of the events that led up to “Duke” being removed from their organization.
ICE and Sasquatch say that upon reaching out to the Kekoas in 2022, Duke identified himself as working for the CIA, but was allowed to remain a prospective member rather than being ejected because they believed he may have advanced knowledge of world-altering events.
Within two weeks of joining, the pair say Duke asked about a “group fund.” They say no such fund exists and members pay their own way, but such a fund could “fall under certain federal laws” like RICO.
ICE says Duke also asked about forming his own chapter of their group and was denied.
In the summer of 2023, the Kekoas apparently took Duke out of their recruitment chat and made him a full member.
In August 2023, the Virginia Kekoas held a joint armed rally with the “Last Sons of Liberty” militia led by Mike Dunn at the Gloucester School Board building, where the legality of carrying firearms is currently being disputed in court.
Duke could be seen pointing his rifle into a parking lot.
Sasquatch recalls Duke reiterating that night that he’s a “defense intelligence analyst for the CIA.”
The Kekoas provided screenshots showing Duke asking to bring a friend on a work visa to a training exercise in December 2023. They found this suspicious, particularly given the questionable legality of such an individual possessing firearms. They say Duke himself then skipped the training.
“To be clear, we don’t agree with any gun laws” ICE clarified.
At their subsequent January 15, 2024 pro-gun march in Richmond, the pair recall Duke leaving promptly without saying goodbye as they arrived at the parking garage to depart. This was unusual because they’d typically have a debriefing lunch.
“Would you be interested in learning some things about HME or is that too spicy for this stage of the game?”
ICE provided screenshots portraying Duke asking on February 5 “Would you be interested in learning some things about HME or is that too spicy for this stage of the game” and being turned down. He says they subsequently held a group call where Duke was warned against discussing explosives.
ICE and Sasquatch allege that just two days later on February 7, Duke used an unvetted meme group including members of other militias to promote the idea of collecting Hydrogen Peroxide, which can be used in explosives. They provided screenshots and recordings showing them concerned that this appeared to be “Fed plot shit for real.”
They say this second provocation to discuss explosives resulted in a “more stern” warning to Duke via video chat.
“I told him that this was not allowed,” ICE says. “You need to knock it off, don’t do it again.”
“If you do, we will have to do something, up to releasing you.”
According to documents provided by the Kekoas, Duke became less active after being warned a second time about discussing explosives.
A few days later, Duke spoke privately with another member, call sign “Preacher.”
Duke appeared in screenshots to acknowledge his earlier request that the group collect Hydrogen Peroxide, but then described legal purposes for the chemical and suggested the group was “limiting themselves” by not engaging with it.
As Preacher expressed concerns, Duke appeared to become irritated, but went on to discuss explosives further.
In further screenshots provided by ICE dated February 27, Duke appears to say that someone in his office at work had been arrested for printing “docs on [explosion emoji] making.”
In screenshots provided by Preacher dated just two days later on February 29, Duke appears to say that “looks like I made the front page of Bloomberg” in relation to their reporting on Mavin, a military AI project. Preacher asks “when did the CIA start going by the ‘National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency,'” referencing Duke’s alleged claim to be in the CIA. Duke responded with a link to a profile on the USGIF.
In additional messages provided to News2Share dated March 4th and 5th, Duke appears to suggest that “my cousin’s farmhouse blew up” after discussing explosives with the group on several occasions. He provided the group with photos of the alleged explosion aftermath, which News2Share has not been able to identify the origin of or confirm as authentic.
Ominously, Duke apparently followed up by writing that “A whole lot of houses burning and going kaboom. I wonder if some subversive force has released some literature and is encouraging these explosions?”
At their March 9 training, held jointly with another militia group, ICE describes that he warned Duke privately “any kind of fed plot against us, we’re not doing that.” According to ICE, Duke responded by proposing that a contact in the Russian Embassy could pay “up to $50,000 a month to unify all militias in Virginia.”
“I told him he was F’ing crazy,” ICE recalls.
ICE and Sasquatch both say they later witnessed Duke asking participants “do we have a plan if a president were to get assassinated?”
Sasquatch says this remark “scares the ever-living shit out of me.”
Sasquatch described that earlier in the day, Duke handed him an unsolicited package labelled “Sasquatch Confidential For Official Use Only” which he opened at home that night. The documents, which Sasquatch showed News2Share, included precursor reports and a signature advisory report on the use of homemade explosives marked Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) unclassified but “for official use only,” along with a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)-marked map of regions of Nevada.
On March 10, according to screenshots provided by ICE, Duke followed up all of this activity by again requesting to form a new chapter of the Kekoas. ICE says he later learned of the documents given to Sasquatch, and removed Duke from all the group’s chats.
Preacher then confronted Duke privately, according to additional screenshots provided to News2Share. Duke appears to deny elements of his alleged conversations with the group while dismissing others as inspirations for a work of fiction.
Preacher ultimately tells Duke he’s “breaking contact,” as did the rest of the group.
ICE says that a day or two after kicking out Duke, he sent a followup message which didn’t deliver. After then sending a message explaining the reasons for kicking out Duke to a phone number previously used by Duke, ICE says the message was received and read, but not responded to.
“We don’t want to be a fed plot,” ICE explained.
“He could be a fed,” explained Sasquatch, who also speculated that Duke may have been “just somebody who’s trying to fit in who’s not very smart.”
Sasquatch added that alternatively, he could be “one of those Timothy McVeigh types.”
“If he’s trying to set me up, joke’s on you, this isn’t what we’re about, we don’t want this,” Sasquatch said, holding up the apparent DIA documents on homemade explosives. “And we’re willing to go public to show that we don’t want this.”
News2Share made several attempts to reach out to Russell Richardson Vane IV for comment in the weeks since recording this interview, including by email, text, Signal message, and phone call. All messages went unanswered, although Signal confirmed the messages there were received.
In response to News2Share’s reporting, Mike Dunn provided a screenshot from March 10 of him apparently talking to Duke.
“I am not in law enforcement, informant or a lawyer and under no circumstances would I be responsible either directly or indirectly for any militia member imprisonment,” Duke appears to tell Dunn.
