MD Man Accused Of Financing Armed Militias Overseas

GAITHERSBURG, MD — A Montgomery County man was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday after prosecutors said he provided support and financing to armed separatist militias in Cameroon and threatened violence against the country's civilians.

Eric Tataw, a 38-year-old Cameroonian national residing in Gaithersburg, was charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support and four counts of interstate communication of a threat to harm, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.

According to court documents, multiple armed and violent secessionist groups in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon are currently fighting to form a new country in Africa called “Ambazonia.”

The armed separatist militias have attempted to achieve secession by not only attacking the Cameroonian military, according to prosecutors, but also intentionally attacking the civilian population in Cameroon in an attempt to force the country's government into allowing these regions to secede.

These separatist fighters are frequently referred to as “Amba Boys," prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, Tataw was living in Maryland and was a member of the Cameroonian diaspora with a large social media following. Beginning in April 2018, prosecutors said Tataw and others sought to raise funds for the Amba Boys to finance violent attacks in Cameroon.

Court documents say Tataw also called for the murder, kidnapping and maiming of civilians and the destruction of public, educational and cultural property in Cameroon.

According to prosecutors, Tataw and his co-conspirators also ordered the maiming of Cameroonian civilians by severing their limbs or removing fingers or other small appendages.

Court documents say Tataw also targeted those believed to be working for or collaborating with the government. Prosecutors said Tataw personally wrote hundreds of social media posts on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter calling for attacks against Cameroonian civilians, seeking to raise funds to arm Amba Boys, and threatening those he viewed as cooperating with the government of Cameroon.

“Tataw and his co-conspirators masterminded and financially supported a vicious scheme to overthrow a foreign government," U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes for the District of Maryland said in a statement. "They resorted to an unthinkable level of violence while instilling fear in innocent victims to advance their political agenda."

Tataw surrendered to authorities his weekend made his initial court appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Mark Coulson on Friday.

If convicted of all charges, he faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison.