A Madison County man is in federal custody after a year-long undercover investigation found he bought automatic firearms with the intent to take out high-value targets, according to a federal criminal complaint filed earlier this month.
Aiden Cuevas, 20, faces a federal charge of conspiracy to traffic in firearms in the Northern District of Alabama. Federal agents also filed those charges against Andrew Nary, a 23-year-old North Carolina man who purchased guns as part of the sting.
Cuevas is one of four men arrested a year ago in Iuka, Mississippi—just across the Alabama border—for trespassing and burglary at a commercial property that includes a nuclear power plant among other sensitive facilities. Two of the other men involved in that expedition, Aiden Stamper and Logan Gulbrannson, are also named in the federal complaint but are not currently facing charges.
Cuevas, Stamper, Gulbrannson and Brandon Crews (the other man arrested in Iuka last year) make up the core of the self-proclaimed “North Bama Brigade” according to experts who track white supremacist and neo-nazi activity online. The federal complaint reinforces experts’ belief that the group practices “accelerationism,” with the intent to escalate violence and start conflict.
The sting
The criminal complaint is based on an affidavit from Chris Hluzek, an FBI task force officer. According to Hluzek, the FBI began the sting on Dec. 1, 2024 and continued through Jan. 20, 2026. During that operation, Cuevas and Nary conspired to “receive and possess illegal firearms, including fully automatic machine guns with obliterated serial numbers,” Hluzek wrote.
In June of last year, an undercover agent met with Cuevas, who requested “Close Quarters Battle and Urban Terrorism Training with advanced training on taking out ‘high value targets.’”
One of those targets later identified in the complaint is Ryan Christopher Patrick, a white supremacist known as “Finnegus,” who Cuevas believed to be a “snitch.”
In July, the undercover agent met with Cuevas and Stamper, with both requesting paramilitary training. The affidavit notes that Stamper remarked that he had “bought an AR-15 off the street and converted it into a fully automatic firearm.”
Cuevas arranged a deal with the undercover agent to purchase a total of six guns, Hluzek states in the affidavit, identifying the guns as being for himself, Nary and Gulbrannson. He later discussed purchasing two additional guns for an unknown fourth person.
Cuevas traveled to purchase the guns on Jan. 20, taking possession of three fully automatic rifles and three Glock pistols, all with obliterated serial numbers. Cuevas and nary were taken into custody soon after the exchange.
Legal troubles
This is just the latest in a line of legal troubles for the members of the North Bama Brigade. All four men arrested last year in Iuka face a charge each of criminal trespass and burglary. Those charges are still awaiting presentation to a grand jury to determine whether the men will b indicted.
Stamper is also facing unrelated legal problems in Madison County after authorities there allege he committed first-degree retail theft from a local Home Depot, stealing from the business multiple times over a period of months. Stamper applied for youthful offender status in that case but was denied and will face trail in June.
Reports have also connected Stamper to neo-nazi vandalism near Nashville in 2023, when he was still a juvenile. Someone spray-painted swastikas and anti-semitic slurs on several homes in Sylvan Park in the Nashville metro area. Scoop Nashville identified Aiden Stamper as the person charged in the incident; Nashville Metro Police did not name the individual charged in the incident because they were a juvenile.
It is unclear whether Gulbransson will be charged in the federal sting, or whether their proximity to the federal investigation could cause further complications in their other ongoing legal battles.
