A neo-nazi from north Alabama plotted to kill a journalist who had reported on his activities, according to recent testimony in a federal case against him.
Aiden Cuevas allegedly told an undercover officer that the journalist was a “pawn who needed to be taken off the board.”
Chris Hluzek, an investigator with the Huntsville police department, revealed the exchange during his testimony at a recent detention hearing for Cuevas.
Hluzek testified that when the undercover officer pressed Cuevas on whether the meant simply harassing or doxxing the journalist, Cuevas responded “What good is harassing a pawn and not removing it?”
Federal agents arrested Cuevas in January on charges of conspiracy to traffic firearms after he allegedly paid an undercover officer $1,500 for three fully automatic weapons and three Glock-style pistols with the serial numbers wiped.
Cuevas is one of four core members of a neo-nazi group calling themselves the North Bama Brigade, alongside Aidan Stamper of Madison, Brandon Crews of Iuka, Mississippi, and. Logan Gulbranson.
APR previously reported that the four men were arrested and charged with trespassing and burglary on the site of a nuclear power plant in January 2025. That case remains under investigation and has not yet been presented to a grand jury.
Although Cuevas did not use the word “kill,” prosecutors told the court that he materially planned to kill the journalist.
“What we have here is a foiled murder plot,” said Jonathan Cross, an assistant US attorney for the northern district of Alabama.
Prosecutors weren’t arguing for charging Cuevas with any new crime related tot he plot, but were instead arguing that Cuevas should be held in federal custody pending the outcome of his trial on the charges of trafficking weapons. The court agreed and Cuevas remains detained pending trial.
Stamper and Gulbranson are named in the charging documents against Cuevas as potential recipients of the guns, but no charges have been brought against them at this time. Stamper actually met with the undercover officer as part of the sting, and allegedly said he already had converted one AR-15 into a fully automatic weapon.
Stamper also faced legal trouble in Madison County, charged with first-degree retail theft from a Home Depot store, a Class B Felony. Stamper requested youthful offender status, but was denied. Court records showed Stamped requested youthful offender status once again, however, and soon after, the records of the case were scrubbed—likely indicating that he was granted his request.
